NASCAR: Leavine Family Racing to form technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing
By Asher Fair
With their switch to Toyota, Leavine Family Racing are set to form a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Furniture Row Racing, the team with which Joe Gibbs Racing have had a technical alliance since the start of the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season, are set to shut down once the 2018 season comes to a close.
Aside of the four-car Joe Gibbs Racing team, Furniture Row Racing, a one-car team that field an entry for defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., who has been tipped to replace Daniel Suarez at Joe Gibbs Racing next season, are the only Toyota team in the sport with a full-time driver.
With Furniture Row Racing set to shut down once the 2018 season ends, there were slated to be just four full-time Toyota drivers in the 2019 season, all Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. However, Toyota wanted there to be at least five.
Now there are set to be five.
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Leavine Family Racing have confirmed that they are set to switch their manufacturer from Chevrolet to Toyota in the 2019 season. They currently field one car, the #95 Chevrolet. The #95 Chevrolet which was driven full-time by Kasey Kahne through the first 25 races of the 2018 season before he was sidelined due to health concerns and subsequently announced his retirement. It has been driven by Regan Smith ever since.
But it isn’t just the fact that the #95 Chevrolet is set to become the #95 Toyota next season that makes this news about Leavine Family Racing’s manufacturer switch from Chevrolet to Toyota significant.
Also significant and perhaps even more significant is the fact that Leavine Family Racing have agreed to form a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing beginning next season, effectively meaning that they are set to replace Furniture Row Racing. This agreement was speculated after it was announced the Furniture Row Racing will be shutting down after this season.
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Will Leavine Family Racing become one of the top-tier teams in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season like Furniture Row Racing did after they formed a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing? The 2019 season is set to begin with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 17, 2019.