The top three candidates to replace Michael McDowell in the No. 34 car

Michael McDowell kicked off NASCAR free agency in the middle of the season on Wednesday, announcing that he would be leaving Front Row Motorsports and the No. 34 team at the conclusion of 2024. 

With McDowell’s move to Spire Motorsports official, here are the top three candidates to replace the 2021 Daytona 500 winner in Front Row’s flagship car. 

Harrison Burton 

This choice admittedly makes the least sense from an on-track perspective, as Burton’s results through his first two seasons and change in the Cup Series have been extremely poor. However, Burton brings sponsorship and influence to every race team he drives for. 

With his dad, Jeff, and uncle, Ward, both being former Cup Series winners, he has a family pedigree to speak of and plenty of support from Dex Imaging to boot. Jerry Maguire may have coined the phrase, “Show me the money,” but modern-day NASCAR has decided to take it for themselves. 

It’s nearly impossible to get a top ride nowadays if you can’t pay the bills, and while Burton hasn’t proven that he can compete in the Cup Series, his pockets run deeper than most. Burton doesn’t have a deal done for 2025 yet, so don’t be surprised if Bob Jenkins comes knocking. 

Ryan Preece

A Connecticut-born short-track ace, fans were told for years that Preece needed a shot with a top Cup Series team. He finally got that shot in 2023, accepting an offer to drive the No. 41 car for a two-time championship organization in Stewart-Haas Racing. 

The problem? SHR is amid a nearly four-season-long slump in which they have won a grand total of 4 races, two of which came via the now-retired Kevin Harvick. 

With tensions seemingly growing between Preece and his current employer after a slow start to 2024 and rumors of Stewart-Haas selling a charter and downsizing to just two or three cars, a fresh start with Front Row could be exactly what Preece needs to get his career back on track. 

Riley Herbst

Before the start of the 2023 season, Herbst wasn’t even close to sniffing a Cup Series opportunity. While he’d been solid in his tenure for Stewart-Haas Racing’s Xfinity Series program, he was still winless in NASCAR’s second-tier series. 

That all changed last October when Herbst dominated at Las Vegas to score his first Xfinity Series victory. While he did miss the Xfinity Series playoffs in 2023, he’s on track to easily point his way into the postseason this year. He also has six Cup Series starts under his belt —including one with Front Row Motorsports last August at Daytona — and scored a top-10 finish at the 2023 Daytona 500. 

Herbst brings plenty of funding from Monster Energy, and his good relationship with Ford could make him the No. 1 choice on Bob Jenkins’ bulletin board.