Team owner, Hall of Fame driver Tony Stewart vows changes, puts team on blast after winless 2023

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tony Stewart put his NASCAR team on blast ahead of the Daytona 500 and in the wake of a winless 2023 season: get to victory lane, hang banners — or else.

Stewart-Haas Racing is in more than a small slump. SHR has been downright dismal.

The team once among NASCAR’s best hasn’t won in the last 84 Cup races headed into Sunday’s Daytona 500. This season’s four-driver lineup, which includes holdovers Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece and newcomers Josh Berry and Noah Gragson, have a combined one career Cup victory — Briscoe won in 2022 at Phoenix.

Stewart, so fiery as a driver he was nicknamed Smoke, had enough of the failures. The three-time Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver said the standard at SHR — where Stewart and recent retiree Kevin Harvick each won championships — was set too high for the team to now languish far outside title contention.

“We’re going to have get some races into it,” Stewart said this month on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, “but if we’re not having the results we’re looking for, we’re going to start making some major changes. Everybody knows that. Everybody understands that.”

SHR’s stumbles on the track led to other losses off it, with premier sponsors Anheuser-Busch and Smithfield leaving the team. SHR’s deal with Ford ends after this season and negotiations could hinge on how many checkered flags Berry, Briscoe, Gragson and Preece chase.

The four drivers have heard the criticism — already harsh from fans and the media — but it hits harder when it comes from Stewart.

“We hear everybody, we hear you guys, we’re not just ignoring it,” Preece said. “And as you heard Tony say, mediocrity isn’t acceptable.”

Aric Almirola and Harvick both left at the end of last season….