NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing forming alliance with Leavine Family Racing?
By Asher Fair
Could Joe Gibbs Racing potentially form a technical alliance with Leavine Family Racing ahead of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season?
Joe Gibbs Racing have had a technical alliance with Furniture Row Racing since the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season. This technical alliance caused Furniture Row Racing to switch their manufacturer from Chevrolet to Toyota after they had been with Chevrolet since their inception in the 2005 season. They have been with Toyota ever since forming this alliance.
But now the Denver, Colorado-based team have announced that they will be shutting down after the 2018 season comes to an end, leaving Joe Gibbs Racing as the only top-tier Toyota team in the sport.
Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser originally did not think that there was a chance for the team to shut down even after 5-hour ENERGY, their $10 million sponsor, announced that they would be leaving the sport once the season ends.
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However, defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., the driver of the team’s lone car, the #78 Toyota, knew that this was a possibility if the team could not come up with additional sponsorship.
With Furniture Row Racing set to shut down, will Joe Gibbs Racing form a technical alliance with another one-car team?
There is a chance that they will do so with Leavine Family Racing. Leavine Family Racing are currently a Chevrolet team with one car, the #95 Chevrolet. This car is currently driven by Kasey Kahne, but the 38-year-old veteran is set to retire once the 2018 season ends.
In July, it was revealed that Leavine Family Racing had been exploring potentially forming a technical alliance with the four-car Joe Gibbs Racing team and making Toyota their new manufacturer after spending their first five seasons with Ford as their manufacturer and their most recent three seasons with Chevrolet as their manufacturer.
With Kahne set to retire after the year ends, Joe Gibbs Racing forming a technical alliance with Leavine Family Racing could provide them with a perfect opportunity to keep Truex Jr., who undoubtedly just became the hottest free agent on the driver market, from going into next season without a ride — and to keep him from going into next season driving for a team aligned with a rival manufacturer (Chevrolet or Ford).
Either Leavine Family Racing could sign Truex Jr. to what would like be the #95 Toyota or Joe Gibbs Racing could send of their four drivers, likely Daniel Suarez, the driver of the #19 Toyota, to drive for Leavine Family Racing, opening up a seat for Truex Jr. at the four-car powerhouse team that currently consists of Suarez, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones.
No matter how you look at it, Joe Gibbs Racing forming a technical alliance with Leavine Family Racing would make perfect sense on many levels. Will it happen?
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Will Joe Gibbs Racing form a technical alliance with Leavine Family Racing starting in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series? Do you believe that it would be in their best interest to do so? Regardless, for which team, if any team, do you believe Martin Truex Jr. will drive in the Cup Series next year?