By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
Front Row Motorsports announced their 2020 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup on Thursday morning. Michael McDowell will return to the No. 34 Ford Mustang and John Hunter Nemechek will join the 2020 Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year class in what will be his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
McDowell’s return will mark his third full-time season with Front Row Motorsports, and he will again be teamed up with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer.
2019 marked a season where McDowell earned a number of all-time team best marks throughout the season. McDowell earned FRM its best qualifying position at seven tracks and team best finish at two. In addition, McDowell gave FRM two top-five finishes in 2019 as well including his fifth-place finish in the season opener Daytona 500 in February.
“As an organization, we have made a lot of strides with the help of all our partners of our program,” said McDowell in a team press release. “I’m ready to build on that momentum with Drew and the rest of our team. We’ve always had steady growth and I think we’re going to continue to see that next season.”
Nemechek who made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Texas Motorsports finishing 21st in his debut went on to make a total of three starts for FRM at the end of the 2019 season will work with crew chief Seth Barbour next season.
Nemechek went on to finish seventh in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship standings in 2019 with six top-five and 19 top-10 finishes.
Overall, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his time spent in the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Nemechek has earned one win in Xfinity Series competition and six wins in the Truck Series.
“I’m thrilled for the opportunity to drive for Bob Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports,” said Nemechek in a team press release. “Having driven the last three races with this team in 2019, I feel like we already have a foundation to start the 2020 season. I’m looking forward to continuing to build FRM.”
Front Row Motorsports has competed full-time in the Cup Series since 2009. In addition, the 2020 season will mark Front Row Motorsports eleventh with Ford Performance which has been the teams manufacturing partner since the team expanded to a multi-car organization in 2010.
“We are looking to the future with a young talent like John Hunter Nemechek,” said Owner, Bob Jenkins. “John Hunter impressed us at the end of last season, he comes from a racing family, and he’s a winning driver. We believe that we can grow with him in the years to come.
“Michael is a veteran leader who is determined to win in the Cup Series,” continued Jenkins. “He gives our organization the experience we need to continue to get better. Most importantly, both Michael and John Hunter also fit our team values and are tremendous assets to our partners on-and-off the track.”
FRM stated that team partners will be announced at a later date.