Stewart-Haas Racing's busy week as Daytona approaches

By Tom Jensen
Published

It’s a busy week for Stewart-Haas Racing as the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series nears.

Kevin Harvick turned the first laps at a NASCAR track in the team’s new Ford Fusion during a two-day test at Phoenix International Raceway and showed speed right off the truck, which should be no surprise to anyone.

https://twitter.com/RodneyChilders4/status/826912743089332224

Thursday back at the team’s shop in North Carolina, Harvick’s No. 4 team won the intramural pit-crew challenge, defeating the crews from the cars driven by Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer and Danica Patrick.

https://twitter.com/StewartHaasRcng/status/827209808352796672

https://twitter.com/RodneyChilders4/status/827206535810019330

On a less happy note, Busch’s crew chief, Tony Gibson, came down with the flu earlier this week and then had to be hospitalized to have his gallbladder removed.

https://twitter.com/TonyOldman41/status/826835343915806720

Best of luck for a speedy recovery to Gibson.

And on the Danica Patrick front, team spokesman Mike Arning said in an e-mail that “Nature's Bakery and Stewart-Haas Racing remain in discussions about how the sponsorship might look in 2017.”