NASCAR: Who is on the hot seat at Stewart-Haas Racing?

Stewart-Haas Racing’s 2021 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup is still up in the air, but there haven’t yet been any changes. Will that change?

Silly Season has been a busy time for the NASCAR Cup Series again this year, and there are still plenty of dominoes that have not yet fallen.

One team not affected much by the driver movement that has taken place so far is Stewart-Haas Racing. But don’t expect it to be much longer before that changes.

Three of their four drivers are set to return to the four-car Ford organization next year. 2014 champion Kevin Harvick signed an extension to continue driving the #4 Ford through the 2023 season before the 2020 season began.

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Rookie Cole Custer is slated to return behind the wheel of the #41 Ford for at least another year, and Aric Almirola recently re-signed to continue driving the #10 Ford for at least another year after entering the season as a pending free agent. But after signing a one-year contract extension late last year like Almirola, Clint Bowyer is a pending free agent once again.

There are several drivers out there who have been linked to a seat at Stewart-Haas Racing for next year, and most notably, Stewart-Haas Racing have not retained the same lineup from one year to the next since between the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Every year, it seems as though the season itself is only the “calm before the storm”.

After 2016, team co-owner Tony Stewart retired from driving, and Bowyer replaced him behind the wheel of the #14 Chevrolet-turned-Ford. After 2017, Almirola replaced Danica Patrick behind the wheel of the #10 Ford. After 2018, Kurt Busch was released in favor of Daniel Suarez, and after 2019, Suarez was cut to make room for Custer.

Even before Almirola signed his recent contract extension, Bowyer is the man who found himself on the hot seat. Almirola’s extension reiterated that and confirmed that Bowyer is the only man who could be on the move from the team after 2020.

Is there any reason to believe Stewart-Haas Racing won’t make it five years in a row with a driver change?

It is worth noting that while the team have altered their driver lineup four years in a row, they have only ever replaced one driver at a time. With Almirola re-signed, that puts Bowyer in somewhat of an awkward position.

Almirola has been backed by Smithfield for several years, and while he doesn’t yet have a win in the 2020 season, he sits in a solid eighth place in the point standings and comfortably qualified for the playoffs. In fact, he locked up a playoff berth on points even before the regular season finale.

He recently went on a career-long streak of five straight top five finishes and nine straight top 10 finishes, and he is undoubtedly performing at the highest level he has ever performed.

But Bowyer doesn’t have that luxury of being in a career year, as he recorded just seven top 10 finishes through the 26 regular races. He did manage to qualify for the playoffs.

The 41-year-old Emporia, Kansas native recently spoke to Beyond the Flag, and when asked if he had any plans to move to the broadcast booth when he retires, he wasn’t 100% sure. What he did say, however, was that it “damn sure ain’t gonna happen any time soon.”

Just over a month ago, Bowyer stated publicly that he wants to be back with Stewart-Haas Racing for what would be a fifth season next year, but he added that he hasn’t talked to the team much about it.

There have been several drivers rumored to make the move to Stewart-Haas Racing should they decide to switch things up yet again, including Xfinity Series driver Chase Briscoe, who has won a series-high six races so far for the team at NASCAR’s second highest level of competition, and Kyle Larson, who was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing after using a racial slur back in April.

Stewart-Haas Racing are naturally high on Briscoe, and Stewart has shown interest in Larson for many years, and he recently voiced his support for Larson to return to NASCAR. This could be the perfect opportunity to bring him on board.

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At the end of the day, we could very well see Stewart-Haas Racing maintain the same four-car lineup from one year to the next for the first time in five years, and they have confirmed that this is a possibility. But don’t be surprised to see a change for the fifth straight year.

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