Stewart-Haas Racing News and Video » Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart » About the Kevin Brad and Danica Mess
About the Kevin Brad and Danica Mess
Rick Hendrick is going to hang on to Brad Kesolowski by putting him into a third car at Stewart Haas Racing next year.
But wait! Danica Patrick toured the Stewart Haas shop in Kannapolis on Monday. She even met with Ryan Newman and Darrian Grubb.
Danica Patrickk is going to leave the IRL and be driving a third car for Stewart Haas Racing next year.
But wait! According to Sports Illustrated, via Mike Mulhern.net, Kevin Harvick has asked out of the last year of his contract with Richard Childress Racing.
Kevin Harvick is going to leave RCR and be driving a third car for Stewart Haas Racing next year.
But wait!
Nevermind, that’s enough but waits for now. Silly season seems to get more crazy every year. It seems like Dale Earnhardt Jr. really got it going two years ago with his battles with Teresa and finally moving to Hendrick Motor Sports. Last year it was Tony Stewart with the move to Stewart Haas Racing. This year, it kicked off with Martin Truex Jr. moving to Michael Waltrip Racing.
Let’s not forget that before the MWR announcement, a lot of people were sure that he was going to Stewart Haas and the third car. Personally, I was hoping he would, but was never sure. Let’s look at a few of the fact about what we know and don’t know.
Most importantly, Tony Stewart has said that Stewart Haas would consider adding a third team when they were sure they could consistently be comptetive with both of the current teams. I’m not sure that just over 1/2 a season, even though they are doing well, provides enough experience to be able to say, sure let’s add a third team.
Where’s the money coming from? I’ve seen a couple reports that as part of its coming out of bankruptcy, GM was released from its sponsorship and personal services contracts in NASCAR. This supposedly included a personal services contract with Ryan Newman. Without the money coming in from GM, is Stewart Haas ready for the added cost of a third team?
Martin Truex, Jr. left Earnhardt/Ganassi/WhoEverItIsThisWeek for MWR, but Bass Pro Shops isn’t going with him. Part of the BassPro sponsorship was that it was tied to Truex. They can get out of it if Truex isn’t the driver. With BassPro already affiliated with Tony Stewart Racing, it seems likely that they will be heading to Stewart Haas. The only question is where? Do they take the perfect fit and go to a partial sponsorship on Ryans car, splitting it with the Army? Is the Army going to be around next year as a sponsor? Military sponsorships are done for a year at a time, due to Federal contracting laws and budgetting.
Kevin Harvick has another year left on his contract with Richard Childress Racing. While Sports Illustrated is reporting that he’s ask to be released from the final year, nothing says RCR is going to let him go. Sure Kevin is good friends with Tony but that doesn’t mean Tony is just going to add a third car for his buddy.
Shell-Pennzoil recently extended their sponsorship deal with RCR but, according to reports, the deal is tied to Kevin, just like the BassPro sponsorship was tied to Truex. If Kevin leaves, they can leave also. That means that Kevin can probably be assured of carrying his sponsor to whatever team he moved to.
Brad Kesolowski has the potential to be a star in the Sprint Cup. The only question is, is he ready and where will he go? Everyone is writing that Hendrick wants to keep him in the stable and that’s fueling all the Stewart Haas rumors. I don’t think he’s ready for a cup ride and could use another years experience in the Nationwide Series. Sure he won at Talladega but Talladega is a crap shoot. Here’s some of the other Talladega winners,
| Driver | Cup Starts | Cup Wins |
| Ron Bouchard | 160 | 1 |
| Bobby Hamilton | 371 | 4 |
| Bobby Hillin Jr | 334 | 1 |
| James Hylton | 601 | 2 |
| Dave Marcis | 883 | 5 |
| Phil Parsons | 203 | 1 |
| Lennie Pond | 234 | 1 |
| Ken Schrader | 732 | 4 |
| Jimmy Spencer | 478 | 2 |
| Michael Waltrip | 743 | 4 |
| Totals: | 4,579 | 25 |
Obviously winning at Talladega is good for your career, but it doesn’t prove you are ready for a full time Cup ride.
What can I say about Danica Patrick that hasn’t already been said? How about this; if Danica Patrick were a man, most people involved in racing wouldn’t have any idea who she is. In her “illustrious” racing career, she has 1 win, in a fuel mileage race in Japan. While winning a race on fuel mileage still counts in the records books, and you still get the trophy and the check, they don’t prove you are a great driver. They prove you can save fuel.
Danica is famous because she is a “good looking” woman driving a race car who has a tendency to take off her clothes for Sports Illustrated and other “mens” magazines. Don’t believe me, do a Google Images search for Danica Patrick. It returns 18 pictures. 4 of them are racing related, 3 are her dressed as though she were at some kind of Hollywood gala, and the rest are swimsuit/lingerie pictures.
Would she bring a lot of “fans” to NASCAR? Sure she would, in the same way that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. brought fans a few years ago. The female demographic went up when the young, good looking, single Earnhardt came on the scene. Patrick would do the same thing, only it would be guys this time. As NASCAR is quickly discovering though, those people aren’t NASCAR fans, they are celebrity fans. when the celebrity fades, so do they.
So what’s going to happen at Stewart Haas with the third car? I don’t think anybody knows, not even Tony. I’m sure he’s looking at his options but I don’t his decision is made.
What would I like to see happen?
- Kevin Harvick move to SHR and bring Shell-Pennzoil with him.
- Bass Pro Shops move to SHR and co-sponsor the Army car. Not only are Ryan and BassPro a good fit, so are Army and BassPro.
- Kevin Harvick Inc. become a satellite(?) of Stewart Haas with Kevin still being able to field at least a Nationwide team. Maybe the three of them, Kevin, Ryan and Tony could rotate driving it.
- Brad Kesolowski do another year in the Nationwide Series and then take over the 5 car from Mark Martin, assuming Mark decides to retire again.
What’s going to happen? What am I, Nostradamus? I’m just like the rest of you. I hear rumors, usually there’s a little truth in each of them. Sometimes they are completely false and sometimes they are completely true. If they were all true next year Steart Haas will be fielding 5 teams with new drivers Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick.
I don’t think so. What do you think. Leave a comment and tell me.
Update: Just as I was about to post this Sirius Speedway is reporting that
while Harvick is indeed talking with both Stewart-Haas and Childress about changing teams next season, Shell-Pennzoil is not a part of the equation. If Harvick changes teams next season, it will likely be with the backing of Jack Daniel’s, which currently backs RCR driver Casey Mears.
I hope not. Clean cut family guy Kevin Harvick hawking Jack Daniels makes about as much sense as Kasey Kahne hawking Budweiser. Then again, Casey Mears doesn’t strike me as a Jack Daniels guy either.
Filed under: Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart · Tags: Bass Pro Shops, Brad Keselowski, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, Shell-Pennzoil
Here we go….have to slam Danica just because she is a woman race car driver. She races in the top 10 most weeks, so she does have talent other than her looks.
She needs to stay in IRL where she is appreciated for her racing skills rather than going to N
ASCAR where she will get no respect for her driving talents from the good ole boy rednecks.
I am a NASCAR (Ryan Newman) fan, but I also recognize women don’t have a prayer to be taken seriously in NASCAR.
I think that your opinion on what you would like to see happen would be what I would like to see happen. I was actually polling friends last weekend and Kevin Harvick seemed to be the best solution. It would also be nice if it were Carl Edwards or Matt Kenseth. I think they are good teams that just need a little tuning up this season. But, those chances are very unlikely plus they are Ford guys. So hopefully you will be right and Kevin Harvick will be the new 3rd car for Stewart-Haas Racing. If I saw Danica Patrick come over to NASCAR and especially join Tony’s team, not only would I be appalled but I would probably throw up.
Think Bass Pro Shops will join Army on Ryan’s 39 car and SHR will remain a two car team
So far this year, Danica has an average finish of 7.375 while the average field has 23 cars. That means she is in the top 1/3 of drivers in IRL. More importantly to me, she has led ZERO, nada, none, no laps. As long as she continues to be famous for taking her clothes off, rather than winning races, you’re right, she won’t get any respect as a race car driver. Respect is something you earn, not deserve.
As far as women being taken seriously, Alli Owens and Chrissy Wallace are just two of them who are beginning to make a name for themselves running against the good ole boy rednecks as you wish to paint NASCAR. The difference is that when they get to the “big leagues” they will have earned their rides.
Women in NASCAR do not get the equipment needed to have the opportuity to be successful…..all a ploy by the good ole boys to keep women “in their place” which, to them is definitely NOT racing a race car.
I still say Danica has more talent than host of men race car drivers…NASCAR, IRL, whatever.
So she is good looking….I don’t think she has any control over her looks, but, given the way men are made stupid by a pretty face, women have learned to use that to their advantage…
Men, look beyond how a woman looks and give her a chance to prove she is smart and talented, even in a supposed “man’s” sport.
furthermore, she HAS lead laps…try watching a race sometime…..
I agree, she has no control over her looks, unless of course she wanted to do something to make herself less good looking. Which would be stupid. However, she does have control over what she does with her looks and most people are not going to take her seriously as a racer until she quits taking her clothes off.
I can only tell you what the record books says. According to FOXSports, http://msn.foxsports.com/motor/irl/results she has not led a single lap this season.
CORRECTIONThe FoxSports site did not have the results for the Iowa Speedway race but the IRL site did. Danica led 24 laps before finishing 9th in that race.. So I stand corrected. She has led 24 laps this year and her avg finish is 7.55.
I could not agree more about Danice. My brother and I were talking and could have sworn that she had 4 or 5 wins. I kept saying NO NO NO. She has 1. He kept saying “that can’t be right”. We fired up the computer and I showed him. He said “hm”.
She is over rated and she is over rated because of what you found on your google search. And don’t get me wrong, she is a good driver, just nothing special.
And to say because she is a female she doesn’t get as good of equipment is just plain ridiculous. With her popularity if she could win, win consistently and win championships…….that would be all the more money for the car owner. So that claim is ludicrous. Generally the people that claim so-and-so doesn’t get as good of equipment as so-and-so are the people rooting for a team member that consistently does not do as well as other team members. Can’t be the driver….right?
24 laps huh? Well, that’s something.
I will be the first to get on board with a female racer…..if she drive. If she can driver and be popular with out doing Swim Suit issues. Most importantly she has to be able to drive. Danica does not fit that.
I am all for the Brad or Kevin option. I could ping pong back and forth all day. Kevin I don’t need to say much about. I think he would fit in great over there.
Brad, no idea if he would or not. But part of me says that SHR needs some young talent over there. Is Brad talent? TBD! Talladega is not the measuring stick and I think another year in Nationwide would be very beneficial.
I would take almost anyone over Danica at SHR. BUT WAIT! I would take ANYONE over Danica at SHR.
It is all just for show anyway. Nobody is going to take her seriously…. SHR isn’t wanting that circus. I know that Tony is smarter than that. She has proven nothing in the IRL and isn’t remotely prepared for stock car racing. Don’t think she has ever turned one lap in one. Come on! LOL
Re read what I wrote, ” Women in NASCAR….” meaning women in general.
I never said Danica can’t get good equipment to drive. She has proven she can drive. I am saying most women who have attempted to drive in NASCAR have not been able to obtain good equipment so they could show what they could do in NASCAR. Obviously they were good if they got to the Cup level at all, but the doors suddenly slammed at that point.
How can anyone hope to win a championship if no one will back them? It’s like anything else in life…someone has to take the chance to see what they can do given a level playing field.
Obviously, Danica, like anyone else, would need to start at the N’wide level first to show she can handle NASCAR at all. That goes without saying and is true of anyone, male or female.
I don’t particularly care for the sexy stuff she is doing either, but I don’t hold that against her…it’s her decision. To me, she drives consistantly ahead of a lot of other drivers, so how can you say she isn’t a good enough driver? Jealous, maybe?????
Stewart-Haas needs to wait one more year before hiring a third driver. They are having a great year but the way the economy is right now they should hold off. Danica might be good in IRL but Cup cars are a whole different piece of equipment. Maybe she could adjust and maybe she could adjust to racing motorcycles too but I think hiring her as a third driver is way to risky. Brad Keslowski might be a good pick but not sure if he would fit in. Just don’t know enough about him to give an objective opinion. Kevin Harvick on the other hand has proven to be a great driver but just needs to find the right fit and I think Stewart Haas is that fit. Kevin has one more year with RCR and maybe that is a good sign. This gives Stewart Haas another year to see if the economy improves and they can become stronger then they can get Kevin when Kevin become available.
I’m with Gladys most, but not signing Harvick. IMO, Brad is going to be a very good driver.
Gladys, I agree with you. It is too soon to add another car to SHR.
They should give it another year, maybe two to see how the economy goes.
I totally agree with what you have to say here in this article. Makes complete sense. And I agree with you what should happen with each driver. And to the MORON’s who are complaining that Danica is getting the “shaft” so to speak… GET REAL! Ok she can drive… but ONE win makes her some God to racing???? PPPPUUUULLLLEEEZZZZE! She’s gonna need a lot more experience to drive Nascar, I can assure you! Would definately love to see Kevin racing at SHR and love to see Bass Pro part time with Newman. Perfect fit for sure!
Who ever said Danica “is getting the shaft?”