NASCAR: Harvick/Stewart stick with crew swap

Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart's late-2014 crew swap has been made permanent, meaning that Harvick will retain the crew that helped to secure his first NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

The Stewart-Haas teammates switched crews on the eve of the Chase last September, and owner/driver Stewart said that his former crew had settled so well with Harvick that it made sense to keep the arrangement in place for the upcoming season.

"The pit crew that I had that pitted Kevin's car at the end of the year, we kept that switch permanent for this year," he said. "There really wasn't that much difference in terms of their times on paper; it was within a tenth of a second. We just felt like the chemistry worked really well.

"I really liked my guys at the end of the year. I'll miss having my full-time guys with me, but I think we're all comfortable with the change. We look at it as, we all work under the same roof and we're all one team."

Harvick won three races with Stewart's former crew during the Chase before securing the championship in the season-finale at Homestead.

Stewart, who missed three races in the wake of his involvement in a fatal sprint car accident, ended the year 25th in the points with a best result of fourth.

Originally on Autosport.com