NASCAR Cup Series: Could GMS Racing buy Furniture Row Racing?

The latest silly season rumor revolves around the potential purchase of NASCAR Cup Series team Furniture Row Racing by Xfinity and Truck Series team GMS Racing.

Ever since 5-hour ENERGY announced that the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season would be their final season sponsoring the #78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, there have been boatloads of speculation regarding the future of the Denver, Colorado-based team.

Martin Truex Jr., the defending Cup Series champion and current driver of the #78 Toyota, has made it clear that the team will need to secure more sponsorship if he is to continue driving for them in the 2019 season.

Here is what he had to say about a week and a half ago when discussing his likelihood to return to Furniture Row Racing next year, according to ESPN.

"“That’s hard to put a number on. Honestly, I really don’t know. I think in another week or two, I’ll have a better answer for you, a better percentage. Right now, we need sponsorship. That’s as simple as it gets. So it’s hard to say. Is there a 50 percent chance we get that in a couple weeks or is there a 100 percent chance or is there 2 percent, I don’t know. I can tell you that everything really is based upon that.”"

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Truex Jr. has since been rumored as a possible replacement candidate for Kurt Busch at Stewart-Haas Racing or perhaps a replacement candidate for any one of the four current Joe Gibbs Racing drivers if not all four of them return to the team in the 2019 season.

However, even with all of these rumors swirling around, Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser ruled out the possibility of the team not fielding a full-time entry in the Cup Series next year. Here is what he had to say about the matter, according to NBC Sports.

"“Furniture Row Racing continues to develop sponsorship opportunities for 2019 and beyond. We have aligned ourselves with great partners over the years and are very proud of the success our organization has achieved, especially the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship with Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing not fielding a team in 2019 is not an option and we have every intention of continuing to build on our success for years to come.”"

But if Furniture Row Racing cannot find a primary sponsor replacement for the $10 million energy shot company, what would their options be as far as continuing to field a full-time entry in the Cup Series is concerned?

There is reportedly a chance that the team’s assets will be sold to GMS Racing. GMS Racing field two full-time entries in the Xfinity Series and four full-time entries in the Truck Series, and they are owned by Maury Gallagher, the CEO and chairman of Allegiant Travel Company. They have never competed in the Cup Series.

Furniture Row Racing and GMS Racing recently discussed a potential deal involving Visser selling his team’s charter and assets to Gallagher’s Statesville, North Carolina-based organization.

If something manages to materialize from these discussions, it could potentially mean one of two things. GMS Racing could either purchase Furniture Row Racing’s assets ahead of next season or the two teams could form an alliance in 2019 before GMS Racing purchases Furniture Row Racing’s charter and assets ahead of the 2020 season.

If this deal ends up being confirmed, which it is currently far from being, Gallagher’s Allegiant Airlines would likely become the primary sponsor of the #78 car, and it would likely be a Chevrolet Camaro as opposed to a Toyota Camry.

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Will GMS Racing buy Furniture Row Racing’s assets ahead of the 2019 or 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season? If so, will Martin Truex Jr. continue to be the team’s full-time driver, and if not, for which team will he end up driving?

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