With Kevin Harvick retiring at the end of the season and increasing uncertainty around Aric Almirola’s NASCAR future, Tony Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing had plenty of decisions to make this particular year. Turns out, the team has made a big one, as Ryan Preece, the #41 driver for SHR recently announced that he will return to the team next year.
Advertisement
Preece, who is in his first Cup season with the team, revealed in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about the development, putting to bed speculations about his future with the team.
Tony Stewart has one less decision to make for the 2024 Cup season
Asked whether he was nervous heading into that part of the season when most drivers were looking to seal their rides for the near future, Preece revealed, “I’m gonna be with the #41 at SHR next year. Definitely looking forward to it and we’ve made a lot of gains.”
Preece, who suffered a horrific crash at Daytona, came back the very next week, embodying the never-say-die attitude of owner Stewart, something that was lauded across the NASCAR world. The recent update seemed to land positively with the fans, with several expressing delight over the driver returning for another year with the outfit.
Tony Stewart is still in the Aric Almirola conundrum
While Josh Berry has been announced as the replacement for Kevin Harvick, it is Almirola’s situation that can potentially prove to be a headache for Tony Stewart. While the decision for the driver involves his own situation, even he realizes that for the team, there are several moving parts that need to fall into place.
“I’m very capable of pivoting, and changing, and switching. But the race team, there’s a lot of moving parts to the race team. The race team certainly needs to have an idea of what’s going on and the sooner the better.”
“I guess there’s active discussions, there’s a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot of variables and it’s complicated. It’s not very easy,” Almirola concluded.
With just over a month to go till the season ends and plenty of driver movement coupled with the fact that they are losing the most experienced NASCAR driver, the SHR management has major decisions to make.
