The Best and Worst of Stewart-Haas Racing in 2015 on Display in All-Star Race

Has there been a more disparate Sprint Cup organization this season than Stewart-Haas Racing?

Kevin Harvick has been nothing short of outstanding. That’s one of the main reasons why the defending Sprint Cup champion continues to remain atop this season’s standings.

When he’s been on his game, Kurt Busch has been hard to stop.

Danica Patrick has shown significant improvement but has also had a few stumbles along the way.

And then there’s Tony Stewart, who continues to suffer through the worst start of his Sprint Cup career. If it wasn’t for bad luck, Stewart would have no luck at all.

Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race was somewhat of a microcosm of what SHR has been like in 2015. Harvick almost won, finishing second. Busch finished a close third.

After being chosen in the Sprint Fan Vote, Patrick qualified a respectable eighth, but she dropped to the back of the field for an engine change.

While she did manage to get into the top 10 during the main event, it was that engine change that ultimately cost her, as the engine failed early into the fourth of five segments. She ultimately finished last in the 20-driver field.

And then there was Stewart, who was a non-entity, finishing one spot in front of Patrick in 19th.

In a way, how SHR performed overall in the All-Star Race is not totally surprising. It’s just an extension of what each of the four teams has gone through already this season.

So how is it that one of the team’s four drivers can be so good, the second driver pretty good, the third driver improving and the fourth driver’s struggles continue?

Look at the standings and you’ll see some significant gaps that other teams don’t have.

Hendrick Motorsports has all four of its drivers in the top 10 heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600: Jimmie Johnson (third), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fifth), Jeff Gordon (ninth) and Kasey Kahne (10th).

Penske Racing has both of its drivers in the top 10: Joey Logano (fourth) and Brad Keselowski (sixth).

And then there’s SHR: Harvick is first, Busch is 14th (a significant achievement given he missed the first three races of the season due to a NASCAR suspension), Patrick is 17th and Stewart remains deep in the pack in 30th position.

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

If the Chase for the Sprint Cup were to start today, Patrick would barely miss out and Stewart would miss his third consecutive playoff.

So how can Harvick/Busch be so good while Patrick/Stewart are fair to poor? All four teams have the same engines and chassis leased from Hendrick Motorsports.

All four teams have excellent crew chiefs and good overall team personnel.

All four teams share virtually every bit of data and information on setups, performance, and what works and doesn’t work.

Still, the disparity remains and continues.

I’m not worried about Harvick or Busch in the 15 remaining races before the Chase. Since they both have at least one win, they’re all but locked into the 10-race playoff.

Given her 17th-place position in the standings, Patrick is just on the outside looking in for Chase eligibility. If she can have more performances like she had at Martinsville (seventh) and Bristol (ninth), it’s possible SHR could have three Chase representatives when all is said and done.

And while it may look like a long shot right now, if Stewart can see a dramatic upward swing in his fortune and win at least one race and remain in the top 30 in points through the next 15 races, he, too, has the potential to make the Chase.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

One thing that Stewart’s fans can almost count on like clockwork is he typically gets hot in June through August. He hasn’t forgotten how to win; he’s just been in the wrong place at the wrong time too many times, particularly in wrecks that have been both his own doing as well as other drivers’ mishaps.

Trying to pinpoint why there has been such disparity within SHR is further confounding when you consider it’s the only organization to have won the Sprint Cup championship twice in the last four seasons.

Sure, we’ve gone through 11 races already, and a pattern has somewhat been established.

As I said earlier, there are still 15 races for things to turn around for Stewart and Patrick—hopefully.

Otherwise, this won’t be the tale of one widely disparate organization, but the unsolved mystery of how two teams under the same roof can be so good while two others can’t.

Think of Hendrick Motorsports: All four of its teams are under the same roof and have an all-for-one and one-for-all philosophy, and it continues to be the top organization.

There’s no reason SHR can’t mirror HMS.

While it was more of the same for SHR in Saturday’s All-Star Race, let’s hope it doesn’t stay that way and that things indeed change, perhaps starting as soon as this Sunday.

Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski