NASCAR: What does Furniture Row news mean for Daniel Suarez?

By Asher Fair | Sep 6, 2018

DARLINGTON, SC - AUGUST 31: Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 ARRIS Toyota (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

What does the news about Furniture Row Racing shutting down after the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season mean for Daniel Suarez?

Daniel Suarez is currently in his second season as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, and he has driven the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota since his career in the sport began last year following the unexpected retirement of veteran Carl Edwards.

Suarez has not won any of the 61 races in which he has contested as a Cup Series driver, and if that does not change this weekend in the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, also known as the Brickyard 400, he will fail to qualify for the playoffs for the second straight season.

Last season, Suarez was the only one of the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who failed to qualify for the playoffs, as Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin qualified as a result of their win totals and Matt Kenseth qualified as a result his point total. Suarez finished in 20th place in the championship standings.

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If Suarez is unable to secure his first career Cup Series victory in this Sunday’s race, he will once again be the lone Joe Gibbs Racing driver left out of the playoffs. Busch and Erik Jones qualified as a result of their win totals and Hamlin qualified as a result of his point total. Suarez currently sits in 20th place in the championship standings.

As a result, it is not surprising that Suarez’s future in the Cup Series is far from certain. He has not had much success driving for arguably the sport’s top team, and that could spell trouble for him moving forward.

But with Furniture Row Racing, the team with which Joe Gibbs Racing have had a technical alliance since the 2016 season, set to shut down at the end of the 2018 season, what does this mean for the 26-year-old Mexican driver?

First of all, it means that defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., the driver of Furniture Row Racing’s lone car, the #78 Toyota, will be looking for a ride next year. However, there are reports that suggest that he will not be looking for long, as he has already been tipped to sign with Joe Gibbs Racing as Suarez’s replacement behind the wheel of the #19 Toyota.

This also means that Joe Gibbs Racing are set to become the lone top-tier Toyota team in the sport. However, there is a chance that they will form another technical alliance with another one-car team. If they end up doing so, they would likely do so with Leavine Family Racing.

Leavine Family Racing are currently a one-car Chevrolet team. They field the #95 Chevrolet, which is driven by Kasey Kahne. With Kahne set to retire after the 2018 season comes to a close, this will give the team an open seat for next year. If they form an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, this open seat would be the seat of the #95 Toyota, not the #95 Chevrolet.

If this happens, it is not a sure thing that Suarez would be the driver of the #95 Toyota next year, especially with rising star Christopher Bell, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series, in the mix to land a Cup Series ride next year. However, his odds of remaining in the Cup Series in 2019 would at least increase.

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Will Daniel Suarez continue driving in the NASCAR Cup Series next year? If so, will he do so as the driver of the #95 Leaving Family Racing Toyota assuming Joe Gibbs Racing and Leavine Family Racing form a technical alliance like the one Joe Gibbs Racing have had with Furniture Row Racing over the course of the last three seasons?

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