As has been seen in many cases over NASCAR history, peaceful coexistence between fierce competitors is nothing short of an oxymoron – if not a total impossibility.
But as Stewart-Haas Racing prepares to kick off the 2014 Sprint Cup season, it has brought together a cast that is fueled by testosterone, machismo and bravado.
And those are the good points.
There’s no question that Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick are close friends, but even close friends have had their run-ins over the years.
Kurt Busch and Harvick and Stewart – especially Busch and Harvick – have also had enough on-track conflicts to last a lifetime. And yet now they’re teammates, expected to bury the hatchet and play nice together.
While some critics may question the viability, it is not unusual in the world of sports. Look back at the glory years of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders from 1976 through 1983, when they won three Super Bowls (1976, 1980 and 1983). Under the late Al Davis, the Raiders put together perhaps the greatest collection of characters, personalities, castoffs and quasi-misfits ever seen in pro sports.
If there ever was a group destined to fail, it was the Raiders. But somehow, Davis made it work. He found a way to turn downright enemies into, well, not exactly BFFs, but a group that realized the collective reward of the team far overshadowed any beefs or individual hatred of teammates — not to mention individual success.
That’s kind of the scenario that will likely play out in 2014 at Stewart-Haas Racing. While past dust-ups will never be forgotten, SHR has put together a veritable murderer’s row of talent that could be the biggest challenge to Jimmie Johnson winning a seventh Cup title, of Hendrick Motorsports remaining the most dominant team in the sport, and also give teams like Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing downright fits.
Busch, in particular, is perhaps the biggest wildcard of all in the SHR lineup. But he’s more than ready to let bygones be bygones with Harvick and Stewart (and Danica Patrick, for that matter), and be part of a stronger collective group than individually.
Busch has already had experience of sorts in situations where critics doubted peaceful coexistence. When he raced part-time for younger brother and team owner Kyle in the Nationwide Series two years ago, speculation was that two brothers – especially alpha drivers like the Busch siblings – would make for the worst kind of teammates.
As it turned out, it was completely the opposite – and actually may have helped Kurt prepare for this season with SHR.
“It reminds me of when Kyle and I got together to run his car in the Nationwide Series,” Kurt Busch told MotorSportsTalk. “There was all the speculation that things were going to blow up and go haywire.
“We actually had a rough season that could have led to problems, but it only brought us closer together to work on the car, to understand what was wrong and why we weren’t as competitive as we needed to be. It was a great challenge to bring us together as brothers and I see that happening as four personalities come together (at SHR).
“This season has so much potential to bring everything that we want to ourselves individually and to a team together. That’s what’s going to make this year special.”
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