Stewart-Haas Racing shuffles NASCAR team crew chief lineup

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Stewart-Haas Racing made a flurry of organizational changes to its crew chief lineup Tuesday that begin this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and are aimed at improving the team in time to qualify its drivers for the playoffs.

Kevin Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the season, is the only SHR driver currently eligible to make the 16-driver playoff field. The changes were announced one day before SHR is expected to name Xfinity Series regular Josh Berry, who recently filled in for Chase Elliott when he was injured, will replace Harvick next year in the No. 4 Ford.

Among the changes made was Xfinity Series crew chief Richard Boswell was promoted to crew chief Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 team in the Cup Series. Boswell had been the crew chief for SHR's No. 98 Xfinity Series team with driver Riley Herbst, but Boswell guided Briscoe to eight Xfinity Series wins from 2018 to 2020.

Boswell has been crew chief for Herbst since 2021.

John Klausmeier, who had been Briscoe's crew chief, has transitioned to SHR's vehicle performance group.

Davin Restivo, lead engineer for Aric Almirola's Cup car since 2022, replaces Boswell as Herbst's crew chief in the Xfinity Series. 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, SHR's chief competition officer. “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.”

Harvick is the only one of the four drivers ranked inside the top-16 as the SHR quartet is winless through 16 races. There are 10 races remaining to qualify for the playoffs and Preece and Almirola are ranked 25th and 26th.

Briscoe, because of a costly penalty for illegal parts on his car last month, is 31st in the standings.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports