NASCAR: Leavine Family Racing to have enhanced alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020

Leavine Family Racing’s technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing is set to be enhanced beginning in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

As had been speculated for several months, it was confirmed on Tuesday that Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Xfinity Series superstar Christopher Bell is set to drive for the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Leavine Family Racing in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season

It was also confirmed on Tuesday that the technical alliance between Leavine Family Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing is set to be enhanced ahead of next year.

This technical alliance began ahead of the 2019 season after Leavine Family Racing switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota and announced that Matt DiBenedetto was set to be their driver for the 2019 season.

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Throughout the season, the 28-year-old Grass Valley, California native’s results have steadily improved behind the wheel of the #95 Toyota.

Now with Joe Gibbs Racing’s own 24-year-old prodigy behind the wheel of that car and with an enhanced technical alliance between the two teams and Toyota Racing Development, that improvement should continue.

Here is what Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson had to say about this enhanced technical alliance, including details about the alliance itself and why it is being enhanced the way it is being enhanced, according to NBC Sports.

"“Enhanced hardware, enhanced communication, sharing of information, the tools that TRD provides will be further enhanced, time available on our sim (simulator) and everything that TRD brings to the table is going to be the same as what it has been with Joe Gibbs Racing.“It is a huge priority for us to make sure Christopher has what he needs to succeed. This is a complete package. It is not being done piecemeal, and you can tell that by the names, having (crew chief Jason Ratcliff) follow Christopher over., etc. All those things are designed to give him the best opportunity to succeed and continue to meet and exceed our expectations.”"

Wilson added that this enhanced technical alliance will be “akin to what we had between TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing a couple of years ago”.

Furniture Row Racing switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota ahead of the 2016 season and formed a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. Martin Truex Jr. won four races for the team in the 2016 season before winning eight races and the championship in the 2017 season.

In the final season of this technical alliance before Furniture Row Racing folded, Truex won an additional four races and advanced to the Championship 4 for the second consecutive season.

Here is what Leavine Family Racing team owner Bob Leavine had to say about this enhanced technical alliance.

"“I can remember Jeremy (Lange, president of LFR) and I coming out of a meeting (about charters) and wondering how in the world we were going to continue to race. We didn’t, we weren’t given a charter. It’s been a long haul and a difficult one.“Our biggest step and our biggest improvement was going to Toyota and the relationship base from David, Tyler (Gibbs) and Jack (Irving) and all the people at Toyota and TRD and then Coach (Joe Gibbs) and JGR and all of the support over there, that really was a breath of fresh air because it really was getting difficult to compete and try to get better.”"

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With Christopher Bell set to replace Matt DiBenedetto at Leavine Family Racing for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, DiBenedetto is set to replace Paul Menard at Wood Brothers Racing. Menard announced that the 2019 season will be his last, and he told the team to sign DiBenedetto after DiBenedetto revealed that Leavine Family Racing would not re-sign him for next year.

How will Bell and Leavine Family Racing perform with Leavine Family Racing’s enhanced technical alliance with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing?

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