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Bob PockrassNASCAR
Martin Truex Jr. doesn’t know if he is seeing a groundswell of fan support over the past three months as he vies for his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship. All he knows is he has seen more fans wearing No. 78 gear.
“I swear every single weekend I see more 78 stuff at the racetrack,” Truex said. “That’s really cool.”
And then comes somewhat of a punchline:
“Obviously I don’t know if that has anything to do with our team is going out of business and shirts going on sale,” Truex said with a laugh. “They’re probably getting $2-$3 shirts.”
At least there’s something to laugh about amid the disappointment of Furniture Row Racing closing up shop after Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After 5-Hour Energy, a 14-race sponsor for the FRR, announced in July it would not return next season, team owner Barney Visser was unable to land a sponsor quickly to meet the costs of his Joe Gibbs Racing alliance and to sign Truex to a multiyear deal. Visser gave Truex permission to look around — and Truex signed a multiyear deal with JGR. Visser, still without a sponsor in early September and unwilling to fund the team out of his own pocket, decided to shut the doors after the season. The story of a small team based in Colorado winning the title with a veteran driver in Truex resonated with fans. But Visser, who suffered a heart attack in early November last year and couldn’t attend the championship, couldn’t keep pouring money into the team any longer.
If the team wins back-to-back championships and then closes, it would make an incredible accomplishment for Truex. But some would view it as a championship with a cloud over it, that a two-time championship team (let alone a one-time championship team) has to close its doors because it can’t land funding.
“It’s not that clear-cut,” Truex said. “It’s a lot more complex situation than just that. You think about the way the team operates and the way it is formed, a single car, it is totally so different than the way anybody else does it.
“At the end of the day, if this was two years ago, Barney would probably go back to what he was doing. It is just not an option now. I don’t put this on the sport. I put this on our situation. The fact that we lost our sponsor so late in the season is a big part of that. But it’s more complicated than just one sponsor.”
Most of the team members have jobs lined up for next season. If they are starting in December, the team has tried to give them enough time off to be able to organize their move to North Carolina, where the rest of the teams are based. If they don’t start with new teams until January, they will be paid for December, Furniture Row Racing general manager Joe Garone said.
Truex will be joined at JGR by crew chief Cole Pearn, spotter Clayton Hughes and some other key members from Furniture Row.
“I already know of a few guys doing something else,” Truex said. “That’s the way things go, and you move on, you make new relationships and friends, and Cole’s been a big part of trying to put together the group that he wants to continue the magic or make some new magic.
“We’ll see how it all works out, but I’m excited and it’s a great opportunity.”
But first things first. Truex has a championship to win. At the racetrack, Truex said he has not noticed any changes in focus or attitude despite the pending closure.
“I don’t know how you could get more fight than our guys have the past couple of years, honestly,” Truex said.
Garone, like Truex, said he hasn’t seen much difference at the track.
“We’ve known this for a while,” Garone said. “Everybody has got their head wrapped around it. A lot of the guys have jobs lined up and that kind of settles you down, and it’s not like you’re floating around with a lot of time on your hands running in 30th.
“It is in the back of everybody’s heads a little bit.”
No driver since the elimination format was implemented in 2014 has won back-to-back titles. No driver has even won two, as Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Truex have captured the trophy the past four years.
Harvick and Busch will vie with Truex for the title Sunday, along with Joey Logano.
Truex knows what it’s like to win back-to-back titles. He won Xfinity Series crowns in 2004 and 2005. Beyond potentially winning back-to-back championships on the sport’s biggest stage, Truex said if he could make it two in a row Sunday, that would be more satisfying because of the format.
“You have to perform. There are no breaks. There is no one race off,” Truex said. “You have two bad races here or there [in a full-season points system], it doesn’t matter.
“Here it matters. If you have two bad races in this, you’re down. You have to be way more consistently fast and perform at a high level in this format. Where the kink is thrown in in this format is if something stupid happens.”
So far, nothing “stupid” has happened to Truex in the playoffs this year. He has four victories and has comfortably advanced on points in each round. He has 17 victories since joining Furniture Row in 2014.
“We understand it’s here, next week is our last week, but it’s cool that we’re going to Homestead with a chance to win it in his last race, and … my five years there has been amazing,” Truex said. “[Visser] has been a great guy to work for.
“Just thinking about all the people that he’s given opportunities to over the years and how some of those guys started in Colorado 12, 13 years ago working for him, and [it’s] just a special group.”
Truex has one more chance to make it even more special.
“I think Cole and the guys will tell you that he’s given them everything they needed to be the best they can be, and the same for me,” Truex said.
“So that’s been fun, and hopefully we can reward him.”