DARLINGTON, S.C. — Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Jerry Markland/Getty Images North America photo —
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series silly season shuffle may have just gotten a whole lot sillier, thanks to a single Tweet sent out on Friday evening at Darlington Raceway.
SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Claire B. Lang reported late in the day that Emporia, Kan. veteran Clint Bowyer will be moving to Harry Scott Jr.’s HScott Motorsports team for the 2016 season, before taking over Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017.
Lang’s Tweet said in part: “[A] source telling me Clint Bowyer to H.Scott Motorsports [in] 2016, then taking over Tony Stewart’s ride in ’17.”
The move would mark the first ‘big-name’ domino to fall as part of NASCAR’s annual myriad of driver, sponsor and team personnel changes.
Bowyer has been rumored as the ‘heir apparent’ to the No. 14 car for several weeks after officially becoming a free agent on Aug. 19, when Michael Waltrip Racing — who Bowyer currently drives for — announced they would not be fielding a full-time entry in 2016. He has driven for MWR since the beginning of 2012, scoring three of his eight career Sprint Cup victories with the team and finishing a career-best second in the NSCS points standings in 2012, though his last victory was in October of 2012 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Bowyer currently sits 15th in the regular season NSCS points and 16th on the Chase Grid — the final driver that would qualify for NASCAR’s version of the playoffs if the reset occurred today. Bowyer has made the Chase five previous times in his Sprint Cup career, dating back to 2007.
Stewart’s future has been the subject of much media speculation over the past two years, going back to 2013, when he missed the final 15 races of the season with a broken leg suffered in a sprint car crash at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Stewart returned at the beginning of 2014, but missed three races in August following an incident in New York that resulted in the death of fellow sprint car competitor Kevin Ward Jr.
The Columbus, Ind. native has competed in every race to date during the 2015 season and currently sits 26th in points.
Stewart is a three-time NASCAR premier series champion, with 48 career series victories and 15 poles in 578 career starts, but has not been to victory lane in the Cup series since June of 2013 at Dover International Speedway.
Race Chaser Online will continue to follow this developing story and provide updates as they become available.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s. He is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: [email protected]
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
