UPDATE: Fire leaves Leavine Family Racing pondering new home

KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Fortunately for Michael McDowell, his No. 95 Larry the Lobster Ford wasn’t one of the race cars that was cooked in the fire at Leavine Family Racing on Friday morning. 

McDowell qualified 31st for Saturday’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway. 

“Obviously we had a fire this morning and they are still figuring out what that all looks like,” McDowell said during his media availability. “For me, when I got here this morning and heard about it, it is very easy to break your focus and start thinking about next week and all these things but we have to get into this race today so I tried to rally the guys around and told them we would worry about it when we get home Sunday and we can’t change it. 

"I don’t really know exactly where we are at with everything. There is still a lot of things happening there obviously. We will get back and assess the situation and do everything we can to be ready to go to Charlotte.”

The team released a statement late Friday detailing the status of the Concord, N.C.-based shop. 

“After receiving more information from a restoration company that inspected the fire damage at the shop today, we were informed that structural damage may cause us to move our racing operations.  We are currently exploring all options.

We do not anticipate this to impact the team's competition schedule.  Our next race is the Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

Four race cars were damaged in the fire - these were primarily back-up cars.  A complete investigation is taking place to access the overall damage and cause of the fire.”

LFR has attempted to qualify for seven races this season — including Kansas Speedway. The team failed to make the show at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend. McDowell is currently 35th in the point standings.