Furniture Row and MWR to Swap Brands? Vickers Out of a Ride?

MWR could be headed for Team Chevy at the end of the season (Google Images)

After what has seemed like a fairly calm silly season, there have been rumblings in the garage all summer that a few teams are looking for different manufacturers. Thursday morning, those rumors just got a lot more interesting.

Furniture Row Racing has been enjoying their best season in the ten years they've been a part of the NASCAR circuit. They won the June race at Pocono with Martin Truex Jr, they have rarely finished outside the top ten and even led the point standings for a good portion of the season. FRR has also been under the General Motors/Chevrolet banner since they debuted in 2005 and formed a technical alliance with Chevy powerhouse Richard Childress Racing a few years ago. This alliance has helped lead to a few bright spots for the Denver, Colorado-based race team. They won the 2011 Southern 500 with driver Regan Smith and making the 2013 Chase for the Cup with Kurt Busch. But Truex and rookie crew chief Cole Pearn have taken this team to another level this year.

So why mess with a good thing?

Well while FRR has an alliance with RCR that allows them to receive engines and chassis, the team receives minimal factory support from Chevy. This is the main reason team owner Barney Visser is looking at changing manufacturers next year. The lead candidate is Toyota, who since last season has been offering all kinds of incentives to the single car team to switch nameplates. And with the success Truex and his No. 78 team have already had in the first part of this season, it stands to reason that the pot will only get sweeter for Visser and his team to switch over from the Bowtie Brigade.

Toyota has stated that it's all about quality, not quantity and that they need to add more quality teams to the fold in addition to Joe Gibbs Racing. With only two mediocre Michael Waltrip Racing cars and the three field filler BK Racing cars running under the Toyota banner full-time in Cup, the addition of Furniture Row would bring a serious championship contender to the team.

Martin Truex Jr scored his third career win and his first win
for Furniture Row Racing back at Pocono (Google Images)

But rather than just add the No. 78 team to the mix, the rumor in the garage is that MWR co-owner and current team principal Rob Kauffman will be taking the organization to Chevrolet next year. This would be a big shock, as MWR was one of the three teams to bring Toyota into the Cup level in 2007, and the only one of those three original teams still operating today (Bill Davis Racing and Team Red Bull have since closed down). MWR has won seven times in their eight years at NASCAR's top level. But while they have won races and qualified for the Chase a few times, but they have yet to prove that they can do these things on a consistent basis and win a championship.

Unlike Furniture Row, Michael Waltrip Racing has been on a downslide the past few years. Clint Bowyer has seven top tens this season, but he sits fifteenth in points and barely qualified for a Chase berth. The road for the No. 55 car in 2015 has been much rougher. Brian Vickers was slated to run the car full-time, but has been sidelined blood clots after only two starts at Las Vegas and Phoenix. These clots have been a constant issue for Vickers since 2010 and have caused some serious concerns about his health and his career. David Ragan has been filling in for Vickers since Kansas and he will finish out the year in the Aaron's Dream Machine. This season has been especially tumultuous for MWR, but they haven't won a race since Clint Bowyer won at Richmond in 2013. After a year and a half of failing to reach victory lane, you can't really blame Toyota for shopping around for a second competitive team.

Should MWR move to Chevy, it would be a homecoming of sorts for Waltrip. He has been Mr. Toyota since the brand allowed him to start his own team eight years ago, but he ran Chevrolet Monte Carlos for Mattei Motorsports in 1999 and 2000 and more famously for Dale Earnhardt Inc. from 2001 until 2005. He also ran an XFINITY Series team out of a shop behind his house and that car too was a Monte Carlo from 2000 until he switched to Dodge Chargers in 2006.

Switching brands would not only be surprising because of Waltrip's affinity for Camrys, but also because they have a shop that allows them to build their own chassis and bodies in-house. The speculation around any potential move would involve a "partnership" with a current Chevrolet team. According to Motorsport, should Kauffman make move his team to GM, he would either align himself with Chip Ganassi Racing or Richard Childress Racing and sources have told the racing site that Ganassi is the leading candidate should a switch take place. It is unclear if this would be a merger or if the teams would simply share information and resources.

Any and all moves by MWR are contingent on Aaron's re-signing at the end of the year. Their two-year contract runs out at the end of the season and they are the only backer of the No. 55 car. Kauffman has shown before he has the money to run cars out of his own pocket, but the question is if Aaron's were to leave would he want to fund a car for, potentially, the entire 2016 season. Aaron's has been with Michael Waltrip since 2000. But they have recently come under new management and given MWR's nosedive in the performance department and the lack of stability when it comes to finding a full-time driver, it would be hard to blame them if they left for a more competitive team.

It appears that MWR has also come under new management recently. Kauffman has been more active in the day-to-day operations of the team since last year's cheating scandal in Richmond instead of just being a casual investor sinking his money into a team that's gone from pretender to contender and back again. So with Kauffman at the helm, he will no doubt try to work out a new deal with Aaron's. And the best way to do that is keeping David Ragan.

Vickers celebrating his most recent win at Loudon in 2012
(Google Images)

Both Kauffman and Bowyer are very big on Ragan's ability and he has won two races at the Cup level already. With Aaron's expected to make a decision on it's involvement with the team in the next six to eight weeks, being able to say that they have a driver who can race the full schedule and run at a competitive level in the right equipment might be the difference as to whether or not MWR stays a fully funded, two car team. Unfortunately, this would leave Vickers on the outside looking in.

"The most important thing right now is his health. I haven't really had a conversation with him regarding coming back to racing and the like. It's a big medical issue that I haven't been involved with up until now.," Kauffman told Motorsport. "He loves racing, so I'm sure he does (want to return), but I think it would be a challenge to try and figure something out--but I would never say never." This sounds an awful lot like when a kid begs their parents for something they want and all they get is, "we'll see." There might be a glimmer of hope, but you know deep down they pretty much just told you "no."

Like Aaron's, Vickers' contract is also up at the end of the season, so MWR could make a clean break without too many hurt feelings. It would be nice if the team who was so high on Vickers' talent just three years ago offered the three-time winner a part-time ride, should he prove able to return to competition. But after Waltrip kicked David Reutimann to the curb after 2011 after he helped build MWR into what it is today, seeing the team drop Vickers like a hot potato is no real surprise either.

There might not be a lot of drivers switching teams this silly season, but it will be interesting to see what happens with this recent Furniture Row and Michael Waltrip Racing news. The landscape of the Sprint Cup Series could look very different in 2016 if these moves become reality.

UPDATE (7/30): It appears that the Kauffman/MWR/Chevy picture just got a lot clearer. Sports Business Daily is reporting that Kauffman (MWR's majority owner and founder of Fortress Investment Group) is very close to purchasing Felix Sabates' stake in Chip Ganassi Racing. This would give the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 winning car owner an invaluable financial partner, as well as bring his stable back up to three cars (Ganassi ran the No. 40, No. 41 and No. 42 Dodges until 2008). In addition to fielding the No. 1 McDonald's/ Cessna Chevy for Jamie McMurray and the No. 42 Target Chevy for Kyle Larson, Kauffman is expected to bring current MWR driver Clint Bowyer and team with him to CGR. This move is because MWR's No. 55 car is in limbo due to Aaron's not announcing whether or not they will return next season. Bowyer's sponsors, 5 Hour Energy, AAA and Maxwell House, have yet to announce their next moves as well, but it wouldn't be shocking for 5 Hour to follow Bower to Ganassi after they enabled him to move from RCR to MWR in 2012.



Rob Kaufmann (R) appears ready to take his business, and
Clint Bowyer (C) to Chip Ganassi Racing (Google Images)

Should Waltrip lose Kauffman, it could spell disaster for the rest of the organization. Waltrip's Raceworld USA shop is capable of fielding multiple cars, with room to build chassis, hang bodies and produce parts all in-house. But without sponsors and proper funding, the building will be about as useless as the abandoned movie theater it used to be before Mikey converted it into a race shop eight years ago. It is unclear what will happen to the No. 55 team; if they will form an alliance with another team, merge into a different organization, or fold all together. It would be heartbreaking to see so many talented people lose their jobs, but it wouldn't be shocking to see that last hypothetical become a very cold reality.

Kauffman is the only reason MWR made it past its 2007 debut. The team was in financial ruin until Waltrip's now ex-wife Buffy brought her friend Kauffman  in to help keep the sinking ship afloat. Since then they have established themselves as a competitive organization, but have failed to reach the next level and still cannot compete with Hendrick and Gibbs for championships. It also hasn't helped business that the team has been plagued by scandal.

MWR debuted at Speedweeks '07 with a cheating scandal that resulted in the largest fine in NASCAR history to date and a rash of suspensions after a fuel additive was found in the intake manifold of Waltrip's car. The team managed to survive and thrive with Kauffman's help. Last season saw the team cheating again. Bowyer spun his car late in the Richmond race that would set the Chase field in order to help then-teammate Martin Truex Jr make the Chase. After NASCAR dropped the proverbial hammer on MWR and the team lost their biggest sponsor, NAPA Auto Parts, Kauffman suddenly began taking a larger role in how the team operates and Waltrip became nothing more than a talking head for the TV cameras who is more famous for appearing on Dancing with the Stars than being a winning race car owner.

The writing appeared to be on the wall after the Richmond incident, but many have since forgotten "Spingate" and forgiven those involved. But clearly losing NAPA's money and the current downslide in team performance has taken a toll. Now, with the impending loss of Kauffman's support, it appears that that same writing is back in big, bold letters. It will be very interesting to watch this all play out and see if Michael Waltrip, a driver who has a reputation for being a survivor, can help his team survive their biggest challenge yet. If not, it could well be their last.

Busch Wins Second of the Year; Hope Springs Eternal for Gen-6 Race Cars

Rowdy pulls into victory lane for the second time this year (Google Images)

Ever since NASCAR rolled out the Car of Tomorrow, fans and drivers alike have hated it. From it's shape, to it's handling, to the stupid wing that used to be on the back, there was never much good to say about it. Kyle Busch won the first race with the new style car at Bristol in 2007 and emerged in victory lane, only to say, "I'm still not a very big fan of these [cars]. I can't stand to drive 'em. They suck."

Well after a few design tweaks in 2011 and the release of the Gen-6 car (short for the sixth generation NASCAR body style) that we have seen on track the last three seasons, the look of the cars have greatly improved. They no longer look like something Lego would use if they ever came out with a NASCAR video game. They look like race cars. Perhaps more importantly, they also look like their Ford, Chevy and Toyota counterparts that fans can buy in the showroom. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday might not be dead quite yet. The racing has also improved over the last few years, especially with this past weekend's race at Kentucky. NASCAR hit one out of the park with the new aero package they unveiled and the racing was absolutely incredible.

Drivers never got to test the new package or qualify their cars because of the steady rains that plagued the Bluegrass State all week. But once Saturday night came, it was Busch again who pulled into victory lane. This is Rowdy's second win of the year and his second win since breaking his leg in a XFINITY Series wreck at Daytona this past February. Kentucky has been something of a playground for Busch since the Sprint Cup Series began racing there in 2011. He edged David Reutimann for the win in that inaugural race and has never finished worse than tenth in the four subsequent events there.

With qualifying rained out, Busch started ninth, while Kyle Larson started from the pole flanked by Brad Keselowski, the other dominant force at Kentucky Speedway. He won two races at the mile and a half speedway going into this event and only has one finish outside the top ten (33rd in 2013). Aside from Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Keselowski would prove to be his biggest challenger for the win. That is, if they could keep their No. 2 Ford up front for a few laps.

Carl Edwards poses with some of his pint-sized pit crew members
(Google Images)

Keselowski jumped out to an early lead, but a rash of slow pit stops and issues with his crew, the No. 2 couldn't hold the lead for very long. Instead it was the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards who dominated the Quaker State 400. Busch missed the first part of this season, many wrote him off as a Chase contender. But with the solid runs he's been posting lately and with winning two of the last three events, he could very well do it. Busch needs to break into the top 30 in points to qualify for the Chase and he's currently 35th, 87 points behind Cole Whitt. Many of the cars around where Busch is in the standings don't run as well as him on a weekly basis, so when you couple that with the fact that the No. 18 team has really caught fire lately, Busch and his Adam Stevens-led team might just be able to make a run for the championship after all.

But the biggest aspect of this race was the fact that the new aero package NASCAR unveiled worked! After toying with track-specific aero packages for certain venues, NASCAR debuted their latest idea to improve racing in the Bluegrass State. And it was a resounding success.

Keselowski and his crew kept losing the lead, but they still managed to come back to finish sixth because Keselowski was able to pass cars on his way to the front. The race also saw a track record 22 green flag lead changes, the last of which came with 23 circuits to go when Busch edged eventual runner- up Joey Logano. The cars were slower than they have been before, they drove worse and the racing was better than we've ever seen with this new car. Clean air was still an advantage for the leader, but the second place car was able to drive under the left rear of the first place car without stalling out or sliding into him. It was the kind of close racing we saw in the pre-CoT era and it was beautiful to watch.

"All the drivers were kind of striving for this," Busch said. "I felt like it was a positive thing when I was chasing Joey down. Right when I got to him, he moved up and tried to block my lane. With the old package, you'd get stalled out, and get stuck behind the guy. I just moved down and went a little bit lower and got my Camry to stick and was able to power through and get back by him.


"We swapped the lead back and forth a couple times. I thought it was pretty good racing. You don't want to spend too much time racing around and putting on too good of a show for the fans to take yourself out of a win. I thought that was a really good race, at least it wasn't a guy who checked out on the last run and you didn't see a pass for the lead coming down the final stretch."

Brad Keselowski's pit crew did him no favors Saturday night
(Google Images)

Edwards has long been a proponent of making these cars harder to drive and he also had nothing but good things to say after the race.

"This package, we need to keep going in this direction," Edwards said. "We could race closer together -- I was steering right. We were using the whole car. We just need to keep taking downforce away. It was an awesome show. Just an awesome, fun day and I'm glad Kyle got the win."

Joe Gibbs Racing edged Team Penske for the win with Busch beating Logano, but Busch's JGR teammates, Hamlin, Edwards and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five. Keselowski, Penske's other driver, was dominant early, but his pit road problems relegated him to sixth place. The rest of the top ten was made up of Hendrick-powered Chevys. Jeff Gordon finished seventh, Kevin Harvick eighth, Jimmie Johnson ninth and Kurt Busch tenth.

Next week, Kyle Busch will look to make it two in a row in Loudon, New Hampshire. The week after that, NASCAR will use another low downforce package when the Sprint Cup tour rolls into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There's a lot to look forward to leading up to the Chase for the Sprint Cup and it will be very interesting to see how all of these different changes and variables play into who gets in and who doesn't.