Setting an ordinary in a sport that competes for 38 weeks a 12 months is tough. Doing so for 418 weeks over 11 years? A Herculean process.
And but for over a decade, the No. 4 workforce at Stewart-Haas Racing has executed precisely that. That dynasty will formally come to an finish, nonetheless, when the checkered flag waves on Nov. 10 at Phoenix Raceway within the finale of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Sequence season.
The prequel of this closing chapter was written a 12 months in the past when 2014 champion Kevin Harvick retired from full-time competitors. His dominating presence behind the wheel of these machines overseen by Rodney Childers, ready by automotive chief Robert “Cheddar” Smith and watched intently by store foreman Dale Fischlein propelled the No. 4 automotive into NASCAR lore like no different from the mid-2010s by means of Harvick’s swan-song season.
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As we speak, the four-car workforce of Stewart-Haas Racing has solely days left earlier than it shutters, the workforce reorganizing in 2025 as Haas Manufacturing unit Crew to area one Cup automotive and its two Xfinity Sequence rivals. The truth for Childers set in a while in the past, however some days that actuality is extra obvious than others.
“When it was form of time to start out cleansing out my workplace,” Childers informed NASCAR.com, “that was form of a kind of days that you just actually begin fascinated by all of the stuff that we’ve executed right here and the races that we’ve gained and all that form of stuff. And taking stuff house and all that form of stuff makes you concentrate on all of it.”
Childers is taking these objects house in bits at a time “as a substitute of taking a U-Haul house.” At this level, he’d most likely want the biggest truck they provide anyway. Collectively, he, Harvick and Co. mixed to win 37 races of their 10 years collectively earlier than Josh Berry hopped into the automotive for the 2024 marketing campaign.
With the ultimate two races for Stewart-Haas Racing straight in entrance of the windshield, right here’s a glance again at what made the No. 4 workforce so dominant — so feared — in its tenure:
STARTING STRONG
This story begins within the fall of 2013 earlier than the inexperienced flag ever waved over the No. 4 automotive in a points-paying competitors.
Childers was within the midst of ending his time at Michael Waltrip Racing, the place he’d served as crew chief for 5 seasons with Waltrip, David Reutimann, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers. His vehicles through the years — from scoring wins with Reutimann and Vickers at MWR to his prior days with Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler at Evernham Motorsports — had been sufficient to catch Harvick’s consideration. Chosen to guide the No. 4 workforce starting with the 2014 season, Childers was tasked with piecing collectively what that group wanted to appear like.
“Kevin believing in me and giving me an opportunity was key primary,” Childers mentioned. “The remainder was placing collectively the entire puzzle of getting the proper store foreman and the proper automotive chief and the proper folks. And I nonetheless don’t even know the way I did all that.
“I used to be so blessed to return throughout such good folks, and most of them are nonetheless with us 11 years later. And for me, it was life-changing, proper? I imply, I had three wins as a Cup crew chief, and now 40 plus the All-Star Race and (34) poles now and all this stuff that we didn’t have earlier than. So all of us which have been on the 4 automotive this entire time have been extraordinarily blessed and lucky to be on this setting, to work with any person like Kevin and to do issues that we did.”
And so preparations started for a Dec. 8, 2013, take a look at at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A number of groups hit the 1.5-mile oval able to study. The No. 4 workforce, with SHR’s then-alliance with Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet, was able to dominate.
“Going to this primary take a look at, we’re going to deal with it like we’re going to win a championship,” Childers recalled. “This isn’t only a take a look at automotive. This isn’t only a take a look at engine. This isn’t only a take a look at gear. This isn’t a take a look at transmission. Like, I would like the perfect stuff that we presumably have on this constructing. I would like the perfect engine that we are able to presumably put in it from Hendrick; the perfect gear, the perfect transmission, the perfect hubs, the perfect bearings, the perfect oils. Like, we didn’t simply deal with it like a take a look at. That was the beginning of setting that instance of that is how we’re going to function.”
The outcomes had been speedy. The automotive, beforehand utilized by the No. 39 workforce with driver Ryan Newman and stripped, rebuilt and rebuffed by the brand new No. 4 group, was a direct rocket.
“I believe it actually set the tone as to, we didn’t need to beat you. We wished to beat you badly,” Harvick informed NASCAR.com. “All of us had a little bit little bit of a chip on our shoulder as to the issues that we thought we had been able to doing, and all people wished to go show that.”
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With Daytona solely two months away, it was vital for the workforce to know the alternatives at hand, what the practical ceiling for the workforce may very well be and the trouble wanted to attain these lofty objectives.
“It wasn’t simply Stewart-Haas at that individual time that wished this all to work,” Harvick mentioned. “It was additionally Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports. And I additionally needed to sit down and perceive what the alliance was and what we had the aptitude of utilizing from the assets at HMS, and what we might do with that alliance. And it was one thing that I felt was fairly vital to have within the puzzle to win a championship.”
If you happen to ask Cheddar Smith, that speedy success was a credit score to Childers.
“That’s the worth that Rodney actually dropped at the desk, proper?” Smith mentioned “Like, I can lead the folks and we are able to construct the workforce collectively. And I can rally the troops and get it executed. However Rodney got here out of the field on the finish of ’13 and knew precisely how he wished his vehicles constructed. He knew precisely what he wished optimized on the vehicles straight out of the gate. We had a ton of velocity, and it was actually particular.”
SETTING THE STANDARD
Harvick successful at Phoenix in simply his second begin with SHR might be the least surprising a part of this story. However regardless of that prompt berth into the newly rebranded elimination-style NASCAR Playoffs, the outcomes didn’t instantly scream “success.”
Of their first seven races collectively, Harvick and the No. 4 workforce completed thirty sixth or worse 4 occasions, twice leading to DNFs with simply two high 10s regardless of a mixed 277 laps led.
“We had quite a lot of failures and quite a lot of issues go incorrect — new workforce blues,” Harvick mentioned. “However the factor that we by no means, ever struggled with was how briskly we might run. And that was at all times the piece that we’d come again (to). We’d lose a race or have one thing go incorrect or regardless of the case was, and the conferences would at all times finish with, ‘Properly we had the quickest automotive, so we simply must get this labored out.””
And did they ever. A win at Darlington Raceway within the Southern 500 wherein Harvick led 238 laps finally sparked the workforce’s turnaround in Week 8 of the 2014 season. The tear the No. 4 workforce proceeded to launch towards was practically unbelievable. Within the inaugural elimination-style playoff period, a win at Charlotte Motor Speedway launched the group into to the Spherical of 8, wherein they scored the walk-off victory at Phoenix Raceway to propel into the Championship 4. At Homestead-Miami Speedway, there was no stopping Harvick, who led 54 laps en path to the workforce’s crowning second with a NASCAR Cup Sequence championship, capping the season with 5 wins, 14 high fives, 20 high 10s and simply these two pesky DNFs from the early portion of the season.
By some means, a way, they had been even higher in 2015. Although they fell brief within the title race, their statistics had been unfathomable: 16 top-two finishes (three of which had been wins), 23 high fives, 28 high 10s, one DNF and a mean end of 8.7 throughout 36 races.
“We had been the usual,” Harvick mentioned.
This was a degree of dominance not seen for the reason that peak years of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus — at this level, quasi-teammates by means of the Hendrick alliance — who served because the No. 4 workforce’s inspiration. That degree of success introduced a completely completely different mindset to every member of the workforce — to the purpose the place robust second-place finishes weren’t sufficient.
“I can bear in mind being offended,” Smith recalled. “Like, we’d load the automotive on the carry gate, and the experience up the carry gate, we wouldn’t even communicate to one another as a result of we completed second. It felt like we had failed. However it was enjoyable to have these expectations.”
Regardless of — or maybe as a result of — of the workforce’s dominance, how the workforce carried itself was vital to Childers.
“Sure, we had quite a lot of confidence, however we tried to remain extraordinarily humble, too,” Childers mentioned. “You already know, we labored actually exhausting — all people right here at Stewart-Haas did. And we knew that everyone was taking a look at our stuff each minute that we had been on the race observe, whether or not that was footage, whether or not that was various things. I imply, we simply tried to maneuver issues round and do various things each week and hold folks taking a look at all these various things. And typically, we’d make them have a look at the incorrect issues simply so that they weren’t wanting on the proper factor.
“However the entire storage undoubtedly appeared as much as us. They knew that we had been going to be quick each week. They knew our little nuances and particulars of what we had been doing and what we had been saying and all that form of stuff. And it was simply quite a lot of enjoyable, actually, to be in that place.”
With such dominating outcomes, post-race technical inspection was a journey for a workforce that flexed each little bit of grey space attainable.
“It was additionally new for us to be those that had their vehicles torn aside in tech week after week after week,” Harvick mentioned, “as a result of if you end second and also you end first and also you try this 16 of the 36, occasions. I imply, your automotive’s getting torn aside in half the races, repeatedly. And so to proceed that success, irrespective of in the event that they took this away or they took that away or they modified this or didn’t like that, and then you definitely make all these changes — I imply, we simply saved arising with what was subsequent.
“And that was one thing that, particularly after the 2014 championship, the primary dialog that we had is: OK, how will we hold this championship mentality week after week for the entire season and never go lay an egg in 2015? That was actually as vital because it was in coming in in 2014 to have a great 12 months was to not go have a nasty 12 months after you gained the championship and all people name it a fluke. So we undoubtedly put that to mattress. Then it was simply, we had been simply the 4 workforce after that.”
ESTABLISHING A LEGACY
To carry out and execute at that prime a degree for any time frame was tough. And but, this group did so not simply week after week however 12 months after 12 months. From 2014 by means of 2020, Harvick and the No. 4 workforce gained at the very least twice a season yearly — in reality, two was their fewest in that span.
4 wins in 2016. Eight wins in 2018. 9 wins in 2020.
For a decade, this workforce grew to become practically untouchable — even regardless of a producer change to Ford in 2017.
“I believe the most important factor was simply quite a lot of exhausting work and quite a lot of communication and quite a lot of grit,” Childers mentioned. “Simply quite a lot of various things. Typically, it’s exhausting to maintain that going and exhausting to maintain that tough work going. You already know, the quantity of drive it takes to be that aggressive on a regular basis was loopy — and to look again on it now’s much more loopy.
“The issues that we did and the way in which that we raced … we didn’t take no for a solution in any respect, and it didn’t matter what it was. We’d rebuild a automotive on Tuesday if we needed to, if we knew one thing was going to make it higher. We’d re-wrap it twice if we thought one thing was going to make it higher. We had been simply after it on a regular basis. And I believe simply that quantity of dedication like we had been speaking about with the folks. … To have a bunch of individuals which might be keen to remain that dedicated and to have that a lot grit each single week is tough to search out.”
However that was the tradition established by Childers, who was unwavering in setting these expectations sky excessive, and Harvick, whose acceptance of something lower than finest efforts drove the workforce ahead. Harvick would inform you as a lot.
“My group on that automotive realized actually shortly that I used to be categorized as an (expletive) due to the truth that the expectations that I had had been, ‘Hey, you want to do your job, and you want to do it properly, and in the event you’re not going to do it properly, we have to go discover any person else,’ ” Harvick mentioned. ” ‘And in the event you don’t, in the event you’re not going to try this proper, I’m going to name it out, and we’re going to make it so depressing that you just’re going to go someplace else.’ The lucky factor that I had about that group that all of us had with one another was the truth that let’s imagine, ‘Hey, you didn’t do an excellent job this weekend. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that. He didn’t like this, he didn’t like that.’ And all people would rise up and say, ‘OK, we’re gonna make that higher. I’ll work on this. You’re employed on that. And what do you need to do tomorrow?’ ”
It was an angle that permeated the group from high to backside.
“Rodney is clearly the heartbeat of the workforce,” Smith mentioned. “He’s a pacesetter. He’s the man that, on the each day, retains all people motivated, and likewise holds that normal to his tradition of we had been going to be that manner. It was extra than simply doing what it takes to win. It was the form of high quality of those who we would choose. It will be — not solely are we going to do all the pieces we are able to to win, however we’re going to be form and we’re going to make use of grace.”
CLOSING THE CHAPTER
And so simply two races stay for the No. 4 workforce at Stewart-Haas Racing.
Berry fills the motive force’s seat as of late in what was anticipated to be a multiyear stint with Childers and Co., earlier than the workforce introduced its impending shutdown mid-spring. If just for these 36 races, Berry was capable of peek behind the scenes and perceive what made this group so good, so robust for therefore lengthy.
“It begins with Rodney and Cheddar for positive and simply the leaders they’re and the folks they’re and the trouble that they put into each week,” Berry informed NASCAR.com. “I believe clearly the preparation of the automotive is one factor, however then simply being good leaders together with your folks and establishing an awesome tradition like they’ve. I imply, it’s only a nice group, actually.”
Berry is aware of what’s subsequent for him as the brand new driver of the No. 21 Wooden Brothers Racing Ford. Likewise, Childers shored up his plans over the summer season and can lead the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet with driver Justin Haley. However Berry already has concepts to convey to new crew chief Miles Stanley in 2025.
“There’s most undoubtedly going to be issues that I’ve taken away,” he mentioned, “and I’ve already talked about with with my new group about issues that they did they usually did properly and the way I used to be handled all year long and the way supportive of me they had been and believed in me — simply the arrogance that they helped construct in me, particularly early within the season after we had been getting began. I believe all these issues are simply so vital to the general well being and the tradition of the workforce as you undergo such a protracted season.”
Defining the legacy of a workforce may be tough. For automotive chief Smith, one phrase got here to thoughts.
“Incomplete,” he mentioned. “I believe that there was rather a lot left for this group to do collectively. I believe that the caliber of individuals which might be on it nonetheless and Josh Berry — I might give virtually something in my profession to have Josh for an additional season with the members of the 4 workforce to indicate all people, not solely what we’re able to however what he’s able to.”
“I don’t assume both of us ever had dreamed that we’d be shutting the doorways of SHR,” Berry mentioned.
There are a selection of workforce members nonetheless on the No. 4 workforce who’ve been there for the reason that group’s inception. However nobody — not rear changer Dakota Ratcliff nor the 2 hauler drivers who’ve been there the entire time — have something on store foreman Dale Fischlein.
“He has been a key determine with the entire thing from Day 1,” Childers mentioned. “He was actually my first individual that I used to be working to rent. Like he was the primary home I went to. I imply, I didn’t even wait to attempt to get him to go wherever. I simply confirmed up at his home. We had labored collectively at Evernham (Motorsports). Once I knew I wanted a store foreman, I simply confirmed up at his home, knocked on the door, sat at his kitchen desk. And I believe he appreciated that aspect of it and has been right here ever since.”
At its core, that perception in every member of the workforce encapsulates what has made Childers profitable as a pacesetter.
“I believe the legacy of the 4 workforce is simply going on the market and doing what we did in 2020 and 2018,” Childers mentioned. “All these years of dominating apply and being the quickest in apply and sitting on poles and all these issues. I believe that legacy is simply to be a champion and be a contender.”
Harvick defines the legacy right now by pointing to the workforce’s work ethic, its character. He factors to the preparation, the relentless grind to not let down the individual beside you.
“That preparation and that perception that went together with that workforce,” Harvick mentioned, “is second to none and doubtless modified the tradition for lots of issues that go together with the race automotive and the expectation within the storage to simply have all the pieces that you’ve be set on kill week after week. And it places quite a lot of strain on the opposite groups, but in addition it most likely modified the tradition in a lot of them as properly, as a result of we actually checked out Chad and Jimmie and mentioned, ‘OK, if we’re going to beat these guys, there must be a sure mindset that goes with this.’ And we had been lucky to have the ability to do {that a} couple occasions.”
Harvick’s driving profession could also be over. Berry, Childers and others could also be sporting completely different groups’ colours in 2025 and past.
However the legacy — the usual — of the No. 4 workforce is not going to quickly be forgotten.
