UPDATE October 30, 2019 12:10 AM ET
I have reached out to Bob Leavine personally and he has responded on whether he will be looking to bump to a two car team in 2020.
In a Twitter direct message, Leavine disclosed to TobyChristie.com, “No we are doing nothing until we know more about the next gen car.”
While Leavine may have had aspirations of moving to two cars back in March, it appears that the cost of a brand new car in 2021 will keep him at a one-car effort for at least one more season.
We know who will drive Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 car in 2020. That’ll be Christopher Bell.
But will the defacto Joe Gibbs Racing extended team expand to two cars for 2020?
The team was rumored heavily to be looking at expansion in the 2018 offseason, but the deals they were looking at fell through and they eventually landed with Matt DiBenedetto as the driver of their lone car.
But could LFR make it work next season?
According to a newly surfaced interview (from March) that LFR team owner Bob Leavine had with Houston SportsMap’s Trey Campbell, it appears so.
In the final question of the interview, Campbell flat-out asks with the new expanded alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, will there be possible expansion for LFR in the future?
Leavine, who has been one of the most out-spoken car owners this season on Twitter, responds definitively.
“Yes. Absolutely,” said Leavine. “We were going to run two cars for this year with Daniel Suarez and a driver we selected but that didn’t work out but overall, I am happy with how everything turned out. I am glad we got Matt DiBenedetto because he wanted to come here but yes we are working on expanding for 2020 right now. It’s just a matter of sponsorship because we can put the people on it and we have the organization and Toyota Racing Development will support that so yes we are working to expand.”
While all the talk recently has been that the only cars left in play for the 2020 silly season are Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 41 and the Front Row Motorsports rides (No. 34 and No. 38), it appears another decent opportunity could open for someone if Leavine can make the second car become a reality.
To read Leavine’s full interview with Houston SportsMap, click here.
