Clint Bowyer joins HScott Motorsports for 2016 season

Before he replaces Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017, Clint Bowyer will spend next season driving for HScott Motorsports, a deal long rumored but confirmed Friday at Dover International Speedway.

Bowyer will drive a currently unidentified numbered Chevrolet and bring with him sponsor 5-Hour Energy from Michael Waltrip Racing, Bowyer’s current team that is shutting down at the conclusion of the season.

The 36-year-old began 2015 in the first season of a three-year contract extension with MWR, co-owned by Rob Kauffman and Michael Waltrip. But when Kauffman announced in July he was divesting himself of MWR and buying a stake in Chip Ganassi Racing, he granted Bowyer his release.

On Wednesday, SHR named Bowyer to fill Stewart’s seat in 2017 when the three-time Cup Series champion retires from full-time NASCAR competition. To fill the one-year gap, Bowyer landed a ride with HScott, a midsize two-car team based in Spartanburg, S.C., and owned by businessman Harry Scott.

HScott will also form a technical alliance with SHR, which has won two of the past four championships with Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick last season.

“Arguably, (SHR) is the best opportunity that I have had in my whole career,” Bowyer said. “It starts here at HScott Motorsports and it keeps building and that is the neatest thing about all of this.

“I loved the opportunity that I had with the people and the culture at MWR. It was a great opportunity. That day is over with and that brings nervous times, for a race car driver or anybody. So, you have lost your job. What does that mean? What do we do? To be coming out of all of that and smell like a rose is amazing. It truly has become the best opportunity that I have ever had to win races and competing for a championship.”

While it will only employ Bowyer’s services for a single season, landing a driver whose won eight races and earned five Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff berths in a 10-year career was something Scott felt his team needed to do. Since purchasing Phoenix Racing from James Finch in the fall of 2013, HScott’s best finish is an eighth recorded by Allgaier in April at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bowyer, who finished runner-up in the 2012 standings, is currently ranked 16th and needs a win Sunday to avoid Chase elimination. Allgaier sits 30th in points, Annett is 36th and neither qualified for the playoffs.

“Clint is a veteran that brings leadership, experience and winning ways to our organization,” Scott said. “Clint’s personality and enthusiasm for racing is going to be something we are going to welcome to our organization. Although he will be with us only for one year we plan to make the most out of it on and off the track.

“Overall with where we have come in the last two years, if you step back and look at it, I think it’s pretty amazing. I think we are in an upwards trajectory and to me that makes me more optimistic than anything else.”

Bowyer’s goal is to elevate HScott’s performance and position it for success when he departs.

“I don’t want to leave Harry with nothing at the end of this,” Bowyer said. “We are going to build a great program here and when I leave there I want to be able to leave there him having a winning organization and an established team to where he can put the next driver in and go for broke just like he did with us.”

HScott currently fields a pair of Cup teams for Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett. Beyond Bowyer, Scott said the organization is unsure of its 2016 driver lineup and will run either two or three cars. Annett, who has sponsorship secured with Pilot Flying J, is likely to return, while Allgaier is expected to move elsewhere.

Current sponsor 5-Hour Energy will back Bowyer in 24 of 36 races. Additional sponsorship and Bowyer’s car number are to be revealed at a later date.