Stewart-Haas Racing will field four cars during the '17 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, but the team has "not announced an anchor sponsor for the majority of races" for Clint Bowyer, who replaces Tony Stewart in the No. 14, according to Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com. Bowyer recently "stood in front of a Mobil 1-branded car" during an event at the Ford Performance Technical Center even though Mobil "just has a few races with Bowyer next season." Stewart: "We're still working, still looking for sponsors for the 14 car so feel free to bring whatever you've got." Pockrass notes Bowyer's car would "run without sponsorship, if necessary, or with the Haas Automation logos of team co-owner Gene Haas on the car." Even with Ford support, Stewart said that "sponsorship is vital" (ESPN.com, 1/18). Ford Performance hosted Bowyer, Stewart and the four SHR Ford Fusions on Wednesday in the "first public event between the new partners." Ford Exec VP/Product Development & Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair "presented Stewart with a historic photo of Henry Ford that he asked Stewart to hang inside" the walls of SHR. The photo shows "Ford in the one and only race he ever ran, in 1901 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan" (AP, 1/18).
GETTING BACK ON TRACK: Ford Performance Global Dir Dave Pericak said that he is "optimistic Roush Fenway Racing will be more competitive this season because of leadership changes that 'embrace becoming more of an engineering-led organization.'" NBCSPORTS.com's Dustin Long noted RFR has been "shut out of NASCAR’s playoffs each of the past two seasons and last won a race" in '14. Pericak said that RFR is in a "better position to take advantage of Ford's technical support after offseason changes." Pericak: "There has been a huge acknowledgement on their side that there has to be a shift within their own organization, a shift within their leadership." RFR "opens the season with new personnel in executive levels." The team "announced in late November" that Kevin Kidd, who "had been the organization’s Cup team manager," would become Competition Dir. Tommy Wheeler, who "oversaw the production of the organization’s Cup and Xfinity cars," would be Operations Dir. The team also announced that GM Robbie Reiser was being "reassigned" (NBCSPORTS.com, 1/18).
