NASCAR: Stewart-Haas still eyeing Go Fas technical alliance for 2020?

A few months ago, there were rumors of a potential technical alliance between Stewart-Haas Racing and Go Fas Racing for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. Is this still a possibility?

With the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season being the final season before the scheduled introduction of the new Generation 7 car, there were heavily backed rumors that Stewart-Haas Racing would form a technical alliance with fellow Ford team Go Fas Racing.

Such a technical alliance would allow the four-car team to jettison some of their excess equipment to the one-car team in the final year of the current car, and it would allow them to place Xfinity Series superstar Cole Custer in the Cup Series while maintaining their current four-driver lineup, something they haven’t done since between the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

But there has not been much recent talk about this potential technical alliance other than the idea that it doesn’t look as likely as it once did. However, is it still a possibility?

The only way this technical alliance would make sense for Stewart-Haas Racing at this point is if they do maintain their current lineup and thus don’t promote Custer directly to their four-car team.

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The 21-year-old Ladera Ranch, California native is the only driver available that they should even consider fielding an entry in the Cup Series on some level with Kyle Larson, who the team have been interested in for several years, under contract at Chip Ganassi Racing for another season.

Half of the team’s four-driver lineup for next season has been confirmed, as Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola have been confirmed by the team for next year while Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez do not currently have contracts to return.

There have been rumors for months now that Bowyer and Suarez will both return to the team next year. Bowyer returning appears more likely given the fact that he has advanced to the round of 12 of the playoffs, but Suarez’s situation is less certain after he failed to qualify for the playoffs, marking three failed playoff attempts in three winless seasons driving for two different top-tier teams.

Go Fas Racing’s current driver is Corey LaJoie, who is not tied to Stewart-Haas Racing. He does not have a contract to return to the team next year and has been rumored as a replacement candidate for a number of teams for next season, most notably for Front Row Motorsports as the replacement for the retiring David Ragan.

Stewart-Haas Racing forming a technical alliance with Go Fas Racing to field the #32 Ford for LaJoie, or really anybody other than Custer, simply wouldn’t be logical given the current outlook of the team.

The major pieces that need to be in play to make this technical alliance happen are in play. But Stewart-Haas Racing have a habit of not confirming their entire driver lineup for the following until late in the current season if not in the offseason, so whether or not it will happen remains to be seen.

Suffice it to say that if Stewart-Haas Racing opt to release one of Clint Bowyer or Daniel Suarez ahead of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, Cole Custer would be a shoe-in as the replacement, and a technical alliance with Go Fas Racing wouldn’t make much sense at that point.

But if they bring both drivers back, getting Custer into the Cup Series for an extra season before promoting him to their four-car team in 2021 could prove beneficial, making a technical alliance well worth it.

Then again, there’s always a chance that he will stay in the Xfinity Series for yet another season as a championship contender, even with the other two of the “Big 3” of the series, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick, having been confirmed in Cup Series rides (Leavine Family Racing and Richard Childress Racing, respectively) for next year.