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Kevin Harvick officially announced on Thursday morning that 2023 will be his final full-time season as a NASCAR Cup Series driver.
The 47-year-old driver will enter the 2023 season with a career stat-line of 60 career wins in 790 starts, along with 245 top fives, 430 top 10's, and one championship with an average finish of 12.7.
The biggest question now is who will take over Harvick's ride in the 2024 season. This article will look at three possible replacements for Harvick and the #4 Stewart-Hass Racing Ford.
#3 Cole Custer
Cole Custer would be the easiest and arguably best option to replace Harvick in 2024. He already has Cup series experience, with SHR at that. So there would be no transition period, something that would be required for another driver that they would bring in. It is also obvious that SHR sees Custer's potential as they would likely not put him in a second Xfinity car if they didn't.
After struggling in his three full-time Cup series seasons, Custer was 'demoted' to the Xfinity Series for the 2023 NASCAR Season, where he will drive the #00 in a second full-time SHR car.
If Custer lights the Xfinity Series on fire like he did before going Cup racing, expect him to be the most likely candidate for SHR in 2024.
#2 Riley Herbst
Next on the list as Harvick's possible replacement is Custer's teammate in the Xfinity Series and SHR development driver, Riley Herbst.
A year or two ago, the notion of Herbst replacing a future Hall of Famer would have been laughable. However, Herbst has shown improvement and can't be counted out. The 2021 season saw him record 5 top fives, and 19 top 10's, with an average finish of 17.1 with 8 DNFs. Herbst improved those stats in 2022 with 8 top fives, 20 top 10's, an average finish of 13.0, and only five DNFs.
Herbst will need to show the ability to dominate races in 2023 to have a shot at the SHR Cup Series seat. With major guns like Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs graduating to the Cup Series, the door is open for Herbst to elevate his game even further this season.
It is also important to note that Herbst would also bring sponsorship with him in the form of Monster Energy if he were to replace Harvick. With Monster aligned with Herbst, SHR would only have to fill out a small number of races with sponsors, which shouldn't be hard to do. Especially if ones like Mobil 1 and Subway stick around.
1. Zane Smith
As for the best but most complicated option on the list to replace Harvick, let us take a look at Zane Smith.
The 23-year-old is coming off a 2022 season that saw him finally take home the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship after finishing runner-up the prior two seasons. He also made an impromptu Cup Series start at Gateway for Chris Buescher, where he finished in a respectful 17th place.
Smith will return to racing full-time in the Truck Series in 2023, as well as making several starts in the Xfinity and Cup Series.
The reason why Smith replacing Harvick is more difficult than Custer or Herbst is because he is signed to Front Row Motorsports. Smith is a crown jewel prospect that FRM would be silly to let slip to another team. One thing that may be helpful though is that both FRM and SHR are both under the Ford umbrella.
It is also interesting to note that before Chip Ganassi Racing went cold, Smith was scheduled to take over the #42 car.
Unlike any other option outside of an already active Cup Series driver or someone with previous Cup experience like Custer, Smith has Cup pedigree and is clearly a top prospect. But a lot of strings would need to be pulled to get Smith away from FRM and in the #4 to replace Harvick.
