NASCAR Cup Series: 3 possible landing spots for Corey LaJoie in 2021

Stewart-Haas Racing

Stewart-Haas Racing has become synonymous with change in recent seasons. The four-car team have made one driver change from one season to the next for four consecutive seasons, last not doing so between the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Kevin Harvick is under contract to drive the #4 Ford through the 2023 season after signing an extension before the 2020 season began, and rookie Cole Custer is seen as a long-term option for the team behind the wheel of the #41 Ford after spending three seasons with the organization in the Xfinity Series.

But the other two drivers, Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola, are driving under one-year contracts once again, and those contracts were only announced late in the 2019 season.

Bowyer began driving for the team as Tony Stewart’s replacement behind the wheel of the #14 Chevrolet-turned-Ford ahead of the 2017 season while Almirola began driving for the team as Danica Patrick’s replacement behind the wheel of the #10 Ford ahead of the 2018 season.

But if the trend continues, one of these two drivers won’t be back in 2020. There are talks of Stewart-Haas Racing bringing up Chase Briscoe from the Xfinity Series, but he is only in his second season at NASCAR’s second highest level.

If they do replace one or both of Bowyer or Almirola, would they really opt for Briscoe over the more experienced Corey LaJoie, who is already technically aligned with the organization?

There are several other pending free agents who would be well worth looking into as well, most notably Kyle Larson, who Stewart has had his eye on for many years and actually wanted to sign as his replacement before signing Bowyer.

But assuming many of these free agents, who make up arguably the most loaded free agent market the sport has seen in several years, remain with their current teams, don’t sleep on the possibility of LaJoie ending up at Stewart-Haas Racing.