HAMPTON, Ga. – There’s a difference between the relationship Joe Gibbs Racing had with Furniture Row Racing last year and the one JGR currently maintains with Leavine Family Racing.
Last year, driver Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn were included in competition meetings with the Gibbs team. This year, LFR driver Matt DiBenedetto and crew chief Mike Wheeler are not, even though Wheeler was Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin’s crew chief last year.
“We have a good relationship with them and good communication with them,” DiBenedetto said. “But we have our own separate competition meeting at our own shop on Tuesdays, where we discuss the communication back and forth and get whatever info we can.”
That makes DiBenedetto’s performance in the Daytona 500, where he led a race-high 49 laps in a very fast No. 95 LFR Toyota, all the more impressive.
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
