On Tuesday morning, Stewart-Haas Racing announced some organizational changes to its crew chief lineup. On Wednesday afternoon, they announced Kevin Harvick’s replacement for when he retires at seasons end. The moves on Tuesday will be in effect beginning with the upcoming Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway race this weekend. The one for Wednesday goes in effect in 2024.

Still, these are changes that are being made in order to bring SHR back to prominence in the Cup Series.

Richard Boswell, the main steward of SHR’s NASCAR Xfinity Series program since its inception in 2017, is now the crew chief for driver Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 team in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Boswell had been the crew chief for SHR’s No. 98 Xfinity Series team and driver Riley Herbst. Boswell won eight Xfinity Series races with Briscoe over a three-year span (2018-2020), including an impressive six-win campaign in 2020, before becoming the crew chief for Herbst in 2021.

As a result of that move, John Klausmeier, the former crew chief for the No. 14 team, remains at SHR and has transitioned to the company’s vehicle performance group.

With that said, replacing Boswell as crew chief for the No. 98 Xfinity Series team is Davin Restivo. Since 2022, Restivo has been the lead engineer for the No. 10 team and driver Aric Almirola in the Cup Series. Prior to his time with the No. 10 outfit, Restivo was the lead engineer for driver Cole Custer, first in the Xfinity Series (2019) and then moving up with Custer to the Cup Series (2020-2021). Before joining SHR in 2019, Restivo was an engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing.

“We made these changes in the best interests of the entire organization,” said Greg Zipadelli, chief competition officer, SHR. “Different people in new positions brings new perspectives. There’s still a lot of racing left to do this year, which means there’s still a lot of opportunity. We need to seize these opportunities and make the most of them, and fresh perspectives from the top of the pit box to the preparation inside the shop will help us do that.”

The reason for these changes is a simple one – SHR needs to be better. They know Harvick is walking out that door in November. He’s their longtime leader. With that experience being gone, they need to solidify their future now.

Harvick’s replacement is Josh Berry. A pairing of Berry and Rodney Childers makes a ton of sense with both having similar short track backgrounds.

Berry, 32, isn’t a novice but he’s not necessarily a veteran either. He’s not going to step in and be Kevin Harvick.

“Josh Berry has proven himself in the Xfinity Series and this year showed how quickly he can adapt to the cars and the level of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series,” said Greg Zipadelli, chief competition officer, SHR. “He’ll be a rookie in our racecar next year, but he drives like a veteran. He puts in the work to ensure that he’s always ready for the opportunities that come his way, and we’re very happy that his next opportunity is with Stewart-Haas Racing.”

Tony Stewart hired Berry without Berry needing to bring any more nor without any money being sponsored to that car yet. That’s how highly he thinks of the Tennessee native.

“We’re incredibly proud to have Josh Berry begin the next chapter of his racing career in our No. 4 Ford Mustang,” said Stewart, co-owner of SHR with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas. “Kevin Harvick has obviously set a very high bar, but Josh brings maturity, experience and, above all, a winning record to Stewart-Haas Racing. He is the right driver, at the right time, for the No. 4 team and our organization.”

So, who’s going to take the baton and carry SHR into the future then?

“I know you don’t like to hear these things,” Stewart said in a video tribute to Harvick this past winter, “but you’re the flagship at SHR. Single-handedly, without a doubt, the greatest racer we ever had.”

There’s a glaring need there to replace.

When SHR was formed for their debut season in 2009, they immediately won. However, this was Tony Stewart’s team then despite them also having Ryan Newman as a part of it.

Stewart won 13 of the first 15 races for SHR. Newman had 3 total wins from 2009 through 2013.

2014 it transitioned really over to Kevin Harvick. SHR doubled their fleet that year going from a 2 car team to a 4 car operation as they added Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick while letting Newman go.

Harvick won the championship that year. He and Busch were the veteran presence that SHR needed as Stewart’s shelf life was waning.

Over their next 23 trips to victory lane, Busch and Harvick combined for 22 of them. Stewart had one.

Clint Bowyer won for them twice in 2018 but this was largely in the midst of Harvick’s reign.

SHR has won 69 total races as of this exact moment, Harvick has won 37 of them. In fact, from 2019 on, Harvick has 16 of SHR’s 19 wins with only Cole Custer (once), Aric Almirola (once) and Chase Briscoe (once) having won in that span.

So when Harvick walks this November, out goes 37 wins and counting with him. Almirola has two trips to victory lane at SHR, Briscoe, Berry has one and Ryan Preece has never won a Cup race yet.

That’s why these moves are being made.

Briscoe and the 14 car is moving back to SHR’s flagship team -hence the move to pair him back with Boswell. This car is underperforming and sits 31st in points. Granted, that’s with a steep penalty for an illegal part, but even without that, he’d be 20th.

Briscoe only has three top five finishes and four top 10’s this season.

Preece sits 25th in his first year with the team without a top 10 all year. His best finish is 12th.

Almirola is a disappointing 26th in points with just one top 10 finish (6th at Martinsville). He was 20th in points a year ago.

We know Almirola is on a one-year contract for this season and Preece is reportedly too.

In theory, if Almirola returns in 2024, SHR would boast a lineup with 5 career wins (that’s if they don’t win at all in 2023). If Almirola walks too, out goes his 3 career wins.

Which is also why Zane Smith is likely being passed over for this cycle. Why it makes a ton of sense with the Ford connection to hop into either Harvick or Almirola’s cars in 2024, the Berry signing signifies that the team isn’t ready for him yet.

They need to find solid grounding again and a lineup of Berry, Briscoe, Preece and Smith isn’t it. By all accounts, someone like Michael McDowell or even Ricky Stenhouse Jr. could be that stop gap. Both are veterans who can give SHR solid feedback and help get them back on the right track and both would allow Briscoe to become SHR’s A driver. Give them 2-3 years to get SHR turned around, let Smith run with Front Row Motorsports to get used to Cup racing for that time period and then bring him over once the team is solid again.

It would do no good for Smith to come over and struggle and he doesn’t have the experience to tell them what he needs and what this organization needs to become a weekly contender again.

Hence all these moves and why they’re occurring.