GMS Racing to buy Furniture Row Racing?

Spencer Gallagher and his family-owned team might be looking to move up to Cup in 2019

Sources have told AutoRacing1.com that GMS Racing owner Maurice Gallagher, Jr. is making a bid to buy the assets of Furniture Row Racing – including the team's charter – and move his operation from the Xfinity Series to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for the 2019 season, with one source telling AR1 "it's a done deal."

Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser announced Tuesday he was shutting the doors of the defending championship team at the end of the season, while his championship-winning driver and crew chief are expected to move over to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019 – which has shared a technical alliance with FRR since 2016.

GMS Racing currently fields one car in the Xfinity Series with a pool of drivers, as well as four trucks in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Team President Mike Beam previously made a bid to acquire the assets of BK Racing in bankruptcy court last week, but was outbid by Front Row Motorsports.

It's unclear if the technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing would carry over to the new team if they were purchase Furniture Row Racing. Visser had cited the rising cost of maintaining the technical alliance as one of the factors in his decision to shutter the team.