NASCAR: Top 5 seats still open for 2021
By Asher Fair
Top open seats for 2021: T-No. 2 – #34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
The 2020 season was one of Front Row Motorsports’ best since they began competing in the NASCAR Cup Series back in 2005, and Michael McDowell has played a huge role in that success behind the wheel of his #34 Ford.
McDowell finished the season in 23rd place in the championship standings with one race remaining on the 2020 schedule, and Bob Jenkins’s team have never seen a driver finish that high except in 2016, when Chris Buescher’s upset win at Pocono Raceway locked him into the playoffs and therefore secured him a top 16 finish.
Entering the year, McDowell had eight career top 10 finishes in 321 starts, and he hadn’t finished in the top 10 in a non-superspeedway race since finishing in 10th place at Homestead-Miami Speedway driving for Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing in 2016.
But he wheeled the #34 Ford to four top 10 finishes in 2020, all in non-superspeedway races, and his average finish of 20.9 is more than one full position higher than his previous career-high of 22.2.
McDowell remains unsigned for the 2021 season, but it is expected that he will be back behind the wheel of the #34 Ford for what would be a fourth year next year.