The big news this week was that Stewart-Haas Racing will be shutting its doors in 2025. The sad news for the four-car organization means the four drivers will be auditioning for jobs the remainder of the 2024 Cup Series campaign.
If you’re a team owner, what driver might you consider bringing into your stable? Here’s a look at the four drivers in a side-by-side comparison.
Ryan Preece is the veteran of the group with 165 starts to his credit, followed by Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, and Josh Berry. The most startling number comes from the driver with the most starts and that’s Preece and his 29 DNFs. Comparing it with Briscoe, who has 43 fewer races, it’s dramatic. However, Gragson has had his share as well and is actually on pace to top Preece’s number.
As we all know, the most important stat is wins, and Briscoe got that one at Phoenix in 2022. But sticking with the No. 14 pilot and the rest of his numbers clearly show he’s at the top of the SHR drivers with 11 career top 5s, 26 top 10s, and the two poles.
When comparing the other drivers, it’s also interesting to see how both Berry and Gragson have a pair of top 5s in their short careers compared to the three by Preece. Looking at the number of top 10s, Berry and Gragson are both almost to the halfway mark of Preece’s 12 top 10s.
The big takeaway is if any team owner is looking to hire an SHR driver, Briscoe is unquestionably the best choice based on the stats. However, Gragson and Berry, specifically here lately, have both shown flashes of quality and a team looking to grow with an up-and-coming driver might opt for either of the two guys.
Last 5 Races Analysis After Charlotte
It’s the fourth edition of our Last 5 Races analysis and, for the first time, there’s a change at the top. In the first three reviews, Chase Elliott held steady and maintained the top spot for best average finishing position, starting at Dover, where he slightly outpaced Tyler Reddick at 5.8 compared to the 23XI Racing driver’s 6.6.
A week later, Elliott had actually improved his stranglehold on the top spot, improving to 5.4 while Reddick still held second but dropped two full spots to 8.6. After his 12th place result at Darlington, Elliott’s average dropped to 7.2 but he was still on top and ahead of Brad Keselowski by two full spots.
That, however, has changed this week and the 2020 champion has been supplanted by one of his teammates and it’s not who most people think. It’s not Kyle Larson or William Byron, but Alex Bowman who now claims the top spot with an average of 7.4, with five consecutive finishes inside the top 10, including his best, a fifth at Talladega.
Elliott is now in second for the first time with an 8.4 average finish. He’s followed by Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, who jumped from 10th to fourth and Martin Truex Jr. comes in at fifth at 11.0 even. Interestingly, Truex held the fourth position in the first three editions of our Last 5 races analysis.
Josh Berry comes in at sixth at 11.6 and is the biggest mover, jumping up from 13th and an AFP of 16.8 after Darlington. He is followed by Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson, who dropped from third in our last analysis, and William Byron.