MOORESVILLE, N.C. – When the announcement came down that Furniture Row Racing was closing its doors at the end of the season, few people were as disappointed as Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson.
The news meant, barring a change, only the four Joe Gibbs Racing entries would remain as manufacturer-supported Toyotas in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series next year. That’s something that Wilson hopes will change before the start of the new season.
Wilson joined SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday and said there is “intent” for “at least” five manufacturer-supported Toyotas to be on the Cup Series grid in 2019, leaving the door open for “potentially more” than that number.
“We’re spending a tremendous amount of energy and focus on expansion, of course,” Wilson told Jack Arute and Chocolate Myers on Tradin’ Paint. “Nobody is happy. Nobody is pleased with losing Furniture Row. It’s something we’re all disappointed with. We at the same time respect the very difficult decision (owner) Barney Visser had to make.
“So as an OEM (manufacturer), we need to try and again put ourselves in the best competitive positioning going forward. That alliance we had going the past three years has been simply magical and something we’ve enjoyed a tremendous amount of success with. I’ve said this before, but we would not have won our first manufacturers’ championship without both Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing performing at the levels that they have been, let alone our second manufacturers’ championship we won last year.”
Wilson’s remarks come just three weeks after the news that Furniture Row Racing will leave the Cup Series at the end of the season. Just one year ago, Toyota had six manufacturer-backed cars at NASCAR’s top level — four from JGR and two from Furniture Row, including the No. 77 Toyota driven by Erik Jones that year.
Notably, Toyota has won back-to-back manufacturers’ championships and 44 Cup Series races since the start of the 2016 season, primarily on the strength of the Gibbs and Furniture Row teams.
The most-speculated replacement for Furniture Row Racing in the Toyota fleet is Leavine Family Racing. The Bob Leavine-owned organization has fielded the No. 95 Chevrolet for Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith this season, but Leavine announced an impending departure from the team’s technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing in August.
“In our talking to the manufacturers this year, Toyota has been head-and-shoulders above the rest so far,” Leavine told NBC Sports. “Everything we have investigated and done with Toyota has felt good from one end of the spectrum, the technical, to just the relationship basis.”
