Beyond the Flag
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NASCAR Cup Series: Top 5 open seats for 2021

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 03: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 McDonald's Chevrolet, leads Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 03, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 03: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 McDonald's Chevrolet, leads Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 03, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /
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DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 08: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Rush/Mobil 1 Ford (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 08: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Rush/Mobil 1 Ford (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Clint Bowyer has driven the #14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing since replacing three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and team co-owner Tony Stewart ahead of the 2017 season, the season ahead of which the four-car Ford team switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Ford.

The 40-year-old Emporia, Kansas native is in his fourth season driving for the team after rumors abounded throughout most of the 2019 season that he would be replaced by Stewart-Haas Racing Xfinity Series superstar Cole Custer in 2020.

Added to that speculation was the fact that Stewart-Haas Racing hadn’t maintained a consistent four-driver lineup from one year to the next since between the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Bowyer ended up signing a one-year contract extension to remain with the team in October and Custer ended up being promoted to the Cup Series after three seasons in the Xfinity Series anyway, so the team did end up altering their driver lineup.

But Bowyer could very well be next on his way out at Stewart-Haas Racing.

After winning a race — in fact, two — in the 2018 season for the first time since 2012 and advancing to the round of 8, Bowyer went winless for the second time in three seasons at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2019 and only advanced to the round of 12.

In the midst of a youth movement, Bowyer’s age coupled with his lack of recent success in terms of finding victory lane doesn’t exactly bode well for him, nor does the fact that his new contract was only a one-year deal.

But will he step it up throughout the 2020 season? Perhaps more importantly, will he have the sponsorship necessary to be back behind the wheel of the #14 Ford for the fifth time in 2021, or will he be replaced to continue Stewart-Haas Racing’s trend of altering their driver lineup from year to year?

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