NASCAR: What does Furniture Row news mean for Christopher Bell?

By Asher Fair | Sep 6, 2018

DARLINGTON, SC - AUGUST 31: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 2018 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

What implications will the news about Furniture Row Racing shutting down after the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season have on Christopher Bell’s career.

Christopher Bell is currently in his first season as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series after winning last year’s Truck Series championship in what was his second season as a full-time driver in the sport.

During his career as a full-time Truck Series driver, Bell drove the #4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. He won one race in the 2016 season en route to a third place finish in the championship standings before going on to win five races last year en route to winning the championship.

As a result of his success in the Truck Series, the 23-year-old Norman, Oklahoma native was promoted from the top Toyota team in the Truck Series to the top Toyota team in the Xfinity Series ahead of this season.

Bell currently drives the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Xfinity Series, and he has had a successful rookie season. Through the season’s first 24 races, he sits in fourth place in the championship standings. He leads all drivers with 24 playoff points and is tied with JR Motorsports veteran Justin Allgaier for the most wins among full-time drivers with four.

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As one of the most highly touted Cup Series prospects if not the most highly touted Cup Series prospect currently competing in the Xfinity Series, Bell is seeking to move up to the Cup Series as soon as he can.

But Bell himself recently stated that he may have to wait at least another year to move up to the Cup Series, as there did not look like there would be any seats open with one of the sport’s two Toyota teams, Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing, in 2019. Because of the fact that he gives Toyota a lot of credit for getting him to where he is in his racing career, he admitted that it was likely that he would continue driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series next season.

However, the recent news that Furniture Row Racing will be shutting down after the 2018 season ends may have implications in regard to Bell’s potential future in the Cup Series.

Furniture Row Racing have had a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing since the 2016 season. Once they shut down, Joe Gibbs Racing are set to become the lone top-tier Toyota team in the Cup Series unless they form another technical alliance with another team.

There are rumors that they will do exactly that and that they will do so with Leavine Family Racing, a one-car Chevrolet team. Leavine Family Racing currently field the #95 Chevrolet, which is driven by Kasey Kahne. With Kahne set to retire once the 2018 season reaches its conclusion, this will leave the #95 Chevrolet without a driver for next year.

With defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. being the driver of Furniture Row Racing’s lone car, the #78 Toyota, there is no doubt that he immediately became the top driver on the market for next year when the team announced that they will shut down after the season finale.

In fact, within hours of Furniture Row Racing’s disappointing announcement, the 38-year-old was tipped to sign with Joe Gibbs Racing as the replacement for Daniel Suarez, who has driven the #19 Toyota in both of the last two seasons since replacing Carl Edwards following his unexpected retirement.

This effectively means that the Joe Gibbs Racing would have to form a technical alliance with Leavine Family Racing to keep Suarez within the organization as the driver of what would become the #95 Toyota.

But with Bell seemingly have far more potential than Suarez, who has not yet won a Cup Series race in 61 starts for arguably the sport’s top team, is there a chance that Bell could potentially be the driver of the #95 Toyota next year?

There is, but even if this does not happen, Leavine Family Racing could potentially field two entries, the #95 Toyota and the #59 Toyota, for Suarez and Bell. After all, Furniture Row Racing did the exact same thing for the first time last year by fielding the #78 Toyota for Truex Jr. and the #77 Toyota for rookie Erik Jones, who now drives the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as Matt Kenseth’s replacement.

Both of these scenarios are possibilities, but a lot needs to happen before either one of them becomes a reality.

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Will Christopher Bell drive in the NASCAR Cup Series next year or will he continue driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series? If he does make the jump to the Cup Series, will he do so as the driver of a Leavine Family Racing Toyota assuming that Leavine Family Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing form a technical alliance?

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