CORNELIUS, N.C. – Spire Motorsports has completed an agreement to purchase the assets of Leavine Family Racing following the NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
As part of the purchase, Spire Motorsports will acquire LFR’s NASCAR charter, the team’s race shop and all owned inventory.
As a technical partner of Joe Gibbs Racing, LFR’s current fleet of vehicles and chassis will be returned to Joe Gibbs Racing upon completion of the 2020 season.
Spire Motorsports will expand to a two-car operation in 2021 and relocate to LFR’s existing race shop in Concord, N.C.
“This is an exciting moment for Spire as we take the natural next step in our long-term plan to build our race team and prepare for the Next Gen car in 2022,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “Bob Leavine invested more than money into LFR and this industry. He built a team brick by brick and we have long admired how he took his own steps in the garage. He also did it with his family at his side. We won’t let that be lost in this transaction. When you build something with your family, it always means a little bit more. His ability to connect with fans was genuine and we are thankful he chose us to carry this team forward.
“These are no doubt trying times, but I have never been prouder to be part of this sport. NASCAR has managed several difficult situations this spring and into the summer,” Dickerson added. “We believe in the ownership model that NASCAR has built and where this sport is going now more than ever.”
Spire Motorsports was established in 2018 and is co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executives Dickerson and Thaddeus “T.J.” Puchyr. In the team’s first season, Spire Motorsports earned an upset victory for the ages last July, when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Since the start of 2019, Spire Motorsports has logged 58 starts on NASCAR’s senior circuit and provided an entry for more than a dozen drivers.
Details surrounding drivers and manufacturers for Spire Motorsports in 2021 will be shared as additional information becomes available.