Stewart-Haas makes it official: Clint Bowyer is coming back in 2020
Clint Bowyer will return to the No. 14 car at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020.
Bowyer’s contract with the team was up at the end of the 2019 season and SHR announced Thursday that Bowyer had re-signed for the upcoming season. Fox Sports reported earlier in the week that Bowyer was returning to SHR.
“I’m proud to be back with Stewart-Haas Racing next year and very happy to announce it the week leading into my home race,” Bowyer, a Kansas native, said. “This is a team filled with racers who love to compete, and as a racecar driver, it’s exactly where you want to be. Great equipment, great teammates, and we’re all backed by great people, which starts at the top with [co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas].”
Bowyer’s deal means Stewart-Haas has just one driver unsigned as 2020 approaches. Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola are set to return to the team. Daniel Suarez, who joined ahead of the 2019 season, is currently negotiating his potential return.
Bowyer came to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017 as Stewart’s replacement after Stewart retired from driving after the 2016 season. He agreed to the deal to join the team in 2015 and spent the 2016 season at the now-defunct HScott Motorsports.
When Bowyer came to SHR he was mired in the longest winless drought of his career. That streak continued through the 2017 season and into 2018 before Bowyer won at Martinsville in the spring for his first victory since 2012. He added a win at Michigan later in the season.
That Michigan win in a rain-shortened race is Bowyer’s most recent victory. He’s winless in 2019 and is currently 11th in the points standings entering the final race of the second round of the playoffs.
Bowyer missed the playoffs in his first season at SHR and was eliminated in the third round of the playoffs a season ago before finishing 12th in the points standings after a horrid third round.
Bowyer has won 10 races in his Cup Series career and last week’s race at Talladega was his 500th start. He’s also one of just a handful of drivers to compete in every Cup race since the beginning of the 2006 season.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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