Take 5: Five Takeaways From Martinsville Speedway

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Take 4 – What is going on at Stewart-Haas Racing?

A couple of months into the season and SHR looked like a powerhouse. Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch had already punched their tickets to the chase, Danica Patrick was running better and Stewart (recovering from a broken leg) although up and down was expected to have a strong second half of the season. With only three races left in the season SHR is somewhat of a mess. This week in Texas none of the drivers from SHR will be working with the pit crews that they worked with at the Daytona 500 in February. Two of those drivers (Patrick and Busch) will be working with new crew chiefs. If someone told me in March that SHR would blowup their pit crews for every car by the end of the season I might have called that person insane and I would have been wrong. Although things are messy at SHR right now they are nowhere near the mess that is Roush Fenway Racing, so that’s good at least. However, the changes are a bit disheartening for a team that looked so dominant at points this season. 2015 is going to be a big year for SHR as it will essentially be a make-or-break season for Patrick and Busch. 2015 should also be a big rebound year for Stewart while Harvick will look to further his success since he has had a pretty good 2014.