Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson announced that he will stop racing full-time after 2020. Here are five drivers who could retire soon as well.
Following the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson announced that the 2020 season will be his final full-time season in the Cup Series. Johnson has competed for 18 full seasons, all for Hendrick Motorsports, and is slated to compete for a 19th this upcoming season.
Johnson continues the recent streak of drivers to call it quits. There was Jeff Gordon after 2015, Tony Stewart after 2016, Dale Earnhardt Jr. after 2017 and Matt Kenseth after 2018. Other drivers to retire recently include but are not limited to Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, David Ragan and Paul Menard.
The age for retirement in NASCAR seems to get younger and younger. This brings up some interesting questions as to who could follow Johnson, who is 44 years old and is slated to be 45 upon his retirement, as the next big-name driver to announce his retirement.
It seems as though we could see the youth movement take full effect and take over the sport as we enter a new generation of NASCAR Cup Series racing.
Here are five drivers who could be next.
Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch currently drives the #1 Chevrolet Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing and has done so since the start of the 2019 season. At 41 years old, Busch recently signed a new contract with Chip Ganassi Racing that runs through the 2021 season.
This contract was signed in early November, ending the speculation that the Las Vegas, Nevada native would retire after 2019 before the season ended.
2019 was a kind of a rebirth year for Busch. In 2019, he recorded 18 top 10 finishes, six of which were top five finishes. Along with those stats, Busch was able to beat younger brother Kyle in an overtime photo finish at Kentucky in mid-July.
That win helped Busch qualify for the playoffs, although after some sub-par runs and some incidents out of his own doing, he was eliminated following the round of 16.
Expect these next two years to be the last two years of Busch’s career. He does not have too much left to prove as a driver in NASCAR’s top series. He won the Cup Series championship back in 2004 and has 31 career wins to his name. He will look to add some more wins and maybe a championship before he goes into retirement, but likely not beyond 2021.
Ryan Newman
Ryan Newman is slated to pilot the #6 Ford Mustang for Roush Fenway Racing again in 2020 after doing so for the first time in 2019. Newman joined Roush Fenway Racing to replace the ride that was split by Matt Kenseth and Trevor Bayne in 2018.
Even though the length of his contract was not disclosed, it can be assumed that Newman did not have a long-term deal with the team. It is believed that his deal runs through 2021.
In 2019, Newman was able to put the #6 Ford in NASCAR’s postseason for the first time since 2006 when Mark Martin qualified for the Chase. Even though Newman did not win a race this past season, he brought the #6 team back to a competitive state.
He goes into 2020 looking to put the #6 Ford in victory lane for the first time since David Ragan did it at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway back in July of 2011.
Along with Kurt Busch, Newman was eliminated from the playoffs at the conclusion of the round of 16 after a fight with Alex Bowman and Aric Almirola to qualify for the round of 12 on points in the round of 16 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval.
With fellow rookie class of 2002 member Jimmie Johnson calling it quits after 2020, it seems that the end is coming for Newman as well. Expect to see him hang it up sometime in the next few years.
Clint Bowyer
Clint Bowyer is slated to return as the driver of the #14 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing for the fourth year in 2020. Bowyer just finished his third season at Stewart-Haas Racing, and toward the end of the season in October, he inked a one-year deal to stay in the #14 Ford.
This was a huge deal for Bowyer, as there were rumors of him potentially being replaced by Stewart-Haas Racing Xfinity Series sensation Cole Custer. With that deal, it ensured at least one more year for him at NASCAR’s top level.
2019 was a disappointing season for Bowyer and the #14 team. Coming off a year in which he earned two wins, his first wins since 2012, he went winless and was eliminated from the playoffs after the round of 12.
The year was quite lackluster for Bowyer, as he was largely irrelevant in the championship mix, and while he was stuck at that level, teammate Kevin Harvick won four races, all in the second half of the season, and advanced to the Championship 4 for the fifth time in six seasons and third year in a row.
With Bowyer only having signed a one-year deal with Stewart-Haas Racing, this could very easily mean that the end of his career is near. While Custer has been promoted as Daniel Suarez’s replacement behind the wheel of the #41 Ford, Chase Briscoe still looms in the Xfinity Series.
The lack of quality of remaining open rides coupled with the fact that Bowyer is slated to be 41 at the end of next year will probably leave him with no choice but to retire.
Kevin Harvick
Sitting at 44 years of age, Kevin Harvick is the oldest active full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver aside of Jimmie Johnson. He is set to return for his seventh season at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020, as the driver of the #4 Ford Mustang signed a long-term contract extension back in 2016.
Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers signed a multi-year contract extension this year. There is no definite answer to the end of their two deals, but at Harvick’s age, it may not be a whole lot longer.
The driver of the #4 Ford has done nothing but win since he arrived in 2014. He won the championship back in 2014 and has made the Championship 4 in five out of the six years in which the elimination format has been in place, including each of the last three.
In 2019, Harvick led the Mustangs, as he was the only Ford driver in the Championship 4. Along with that Championship 4 berth, he secured four victories in the second half of the year to lead the blue ovals in wins for the entire season.
Harvick has expressed his interest in continuing racing through at least the 2021 season, but once you hit a certain age, family seems to become more important, and Harvick is bound to experience that over the next few years. Expect him to be out of the car by the end of 2023 at the latest.
Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola is a real dark horse pick for a driver to potentially retire in the near future. At age 35, he is set to enter his third season piloting the #10 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020. He and long time sponsor Smithfield signed a one-year contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing in October.
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Next year is a real make or break year for Almirola. If the performance is not there, team owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas may part ways with Almirola and look for a new driver to fill his seat.
Smithfield has been with Almirola since 2012, but if the results do not pick up in 2020, they may very well split with him as well.
After a strong 2018 season in which Almirola won a race at Talladega Superspeedway, qualified for the round of 8 and finished in a career-high fifth place in the championship standings, he had a disappointing year in 2019. He failed to win a race and was eliminated after the round of 16, and he recorded just six top 10 finishes in the season’s final 29 races. Meanwhile, Clint Bowyer advanced to the round of 12 and Kevin Harvick advanced to the Championship 4.
It would be hard to see Aric Almirola having the motivation to get going without being in top ride at the age of 36, so this could be it for him. If 2020 does not go the way he wants it to, he could see an early end to his NASCAR Cup Series career.