How a furniture-backed NASCAR operation from Colorado reached the Chase, won its only championship with Martin Truex Jr. and closed after its main sponsor left.
Furniture Row Racing was a NASCAR Cup Series team from Denver, Colorado, that ran from 2005 to 2018. Backed by a furniture chain, it won the 2017 title with Martin Truex Jr. and closed in 2018 after losing its main sponsor, 5-hour Energy.
Furniture Row Racing, usually shortened to FRR, was a NASCAR Cup Series team that ran from 2005 to 2018 out of Denver, Colorado. Backed by a furniture chain, it was the first one-car operation to reach the Chase and won the 2017 title with Martin Truex Jr. It closed after its main sponsor withdrew, and its charter was later sold to another operation.
What was Furniture Row Racing and where was it based?
Furniture Row Racing was an American NASCAR team owned and sponsored by Furniture Row, a chain of furniture stores. It was based in Denver, Colorado, the home city of its sponsor, and it stood alone as a team of its kind west of the Mississippi River.
The team's first NASCAR start came in the Busch Series in 2005 at Nashville Superspeedway, where Jerry Robertson started 24th and finished 33rd. Robertson ran ten races that year and nine in 2006, and his best result was 22nd at California Speedway in 2005.
A furniture chain's NASCAR team from Denver reached the Chase, won the 2017 title and closed once its sponsor walked away.
How did the team reach the Cup Series and build its early years?
Furniture Row made two Cup starts in 2005, with Kenny Wallace debuting at Dover, and then entered a second car in 2008. The early seasons were tough, and the team struggled to make the top 35 in points until it settled on a steady driver in Joe Nemechek.
In 2006 Wallace failed to put the car into the Daytona 500 field, then qualified for two races and finished 41st and 38th. The team also shared equipment and resources with PPI Motorsports that season, which helped it stay on the grid while its own results were patchy.
Wallace was released in August 2007 after two sixth-place starts. Joe Nemechek was named the permanent driver after Scott Wimmer and Sterling Marlin both failed to qualify, and he signed a three-year deal running through 2010.
Nemechek locked himself into the 2008 Daytona 500 with a third-place qualifying run, and at the spring Talladega event he earned the team's first pole. The fall race at that track produced the team's best finish to that point, an 11th place.
Part-time years, Richard Childress Racing and the first victory
Nemechek's three-year deal reflected a wish to stay in the Cup Series even as budgets stayed tight.
For 2009 the team cut back to a part-time schedule for financial reasons, and Regan Smith drove the No. 78 for 18 races in 2009. The team returned to full-time racing in 2010 by aligning with Richard Childress Racing, buying owner points from RCR's entry in the No. 07 to secure top 35 status.
In November 2010 the team's transporter and motorcoach were destroyed in a crash on Interstate 25, not far from the Denver base. Richard Childress Racing supplied a fully equipped transporter for the team's use at Homestead, a generous loan that kept the operation going.
The team's first top ten arrived in 2011, when Smith finished seventh at the Daytona 500. In May he won the Southern 500 at Darlington, holding off Carl Edwards. That was the team's first victory and first top five, and it marked a turning point for a team that had never before won a Cup race.
How did Kurt Busch lift the team in 2012 and 2013?
Todd Berrier, who came from Richard Childress Racing, had helped Smith to two top ten finishes and a top five, but team manager Joe Garone still moved Smith out in favour of Busch, a move that reshaped the car's direction for the rest of the year.
Kurt Busch replaced Regan Smith from the 2012 Charlotte race and turned the car into a consistent contender. In the first 26 races of 2013 he recorded eight top five finishes and 13 top tens, and a second-place run at Richmond earned the Chase berth.
Low points kept the team on the Chase bubble for much of the summer, until a run of August top tens by Busch changed the picture.
Busch also earned one pole that year, at Darlington in May, and the car ran at the front more often than not. The season had low points as well. A May wreck at Talladega left Busch flipped and then down on top of Ryan Newman, and a dead battery at the Coca-Cola 600 cost the car its lead during a red flag.
That Chase berth marked the first time a one-car operation reached the Chase. For the Talladega race that October, the car ran with a Wonder Bread scheme as a Talladega Nights tribute, a nod to the film, and the second Talladega Nights-themed car Busch had run at the track.
Martin Truex Jr. and the title years
Busch's exit in 2013 left the team searching. Juan Pablo Montoya was the most likely candidate for a time, but he chose Team Penske's IndyCar programme instead. The team then turned to Truex, and the deal was confirmed before the November race at Texas.
Busch left for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, and the team signed Martin Truex Jr. on a multi-year deal after his previous team was scaled back. The 2014 season was quiet, with five top tens and a 24th-place finish in the points. Cole Pearn was hired as crew chief after that year.
Furniture Row also brought in Truex's previous crew members, so the new partnership began with a familiar group behind the car.
Truex's form changed dramatically in 2015. He scored nine top tens in the first 10 races and finished second at Las Vegas. In June he won at Pocono, ending a 69-race winless streak, and that result locked him and the team into the Chase. By the 15th race he had 14 top tens, a mark last reached by Richard Petty in 1969.
The team switched to Toyota for 2016 under a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex's 2016 Coca-Cola 600 is still a landmark, because he led a record 392 of 400 laps. Later that year an engine failure at Talladega cut the car from the Chase, but Truex won at Darlington in the Southern 500 and also took the Chicagoland win.
How did Furniture Row win the 2017 title?
Martin Truex Jr. clinched the 2017 title for the team at Homestead, leading 78 laps in the final race. The title was the high point of a season that began with an 18th-place finish at Daytona. It was the first championship for the team, and the first title awarded under Monster Energy sponsorship.
Truex won early in 2017 at California, then added wins at Pocono, Sonoma and Kentucky. At Las Vegas he led 150 laps and became the first driver to win all three stages of a NASCAR race. At the Coca-Cola 600 he led 273 laps, and at Kentucky he dominated again, winning all three stages.
The playoff run built momentum through the year, and the final race at Homestead gave Truex the chance to finish what the season had started.
The season also brought a low point. At the Brickyard 400 Truex battled Kyle Busch late in the race, and an accidental wreck took both drivers out. Three No. 78 crew members were suspended after confronting Busch's crew chief, which made for an uncomfortable conflict inside the Toyota operation.
Why did Furniture Row Racing close?
The team closed because it lost its main sponsor. On 4 September 2018 owner Barney Visser announced that the loss of 5-hour Energy left no choice but to cease operations at the end of the season, one year after the title. Truex and Pearn moved to Joe Gibbs Racing in November 2018.
Owners of single-car operations depend heavily on one backer, and this episode shows how quickly that support can disappear.
Erik Jones had driven the No. 77 full-time in 2017, backed by 5-hour Energy, on a charter that Furniture Row had bought from Jay Robinson's team. Jones finished 7th in the Coca-Cola 600 and third at Pocono before leaving for Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 car in 2018.
The charter sales followed quickly. The No. 77 charter went to JTG Daugherty Racing, and the No. 78 charter was sold to Spire Sports and Entertainment on 4 December 2018. Spire now runs the car as Spire Motorsports No. 77, while much of the former team operates under Falci Adaptive Motorsports.
Season by season highlights
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Two Cup appearances, with Kenny Wallace debuting at Dover |
| 2008 | Joe Nemechek gives the team its first pole at spring Talladega |
| 2011 | Regan Smith wins the Southern 500 at Darlington for the team's first victory |
| 2013 | Kurt Busch takes the team into the Chase as a single-car operation |
| 2015 | Martin Truex Jr. ends a 69-race winless streak at Pocono |
| 2016 | Switch to Toyota and a record 392 laps led at the Coca-Cola 600 |
| 2017 | Truex wins the Monster Energy Cup title at Homestead |
| 2018 | Closure announced on 4 September after the loss of sponsorship |
The pattern across the table is clear. The team rose quickly once it found a driver and a crew chief who worked together, and it fell when its funding source disappeared.
What is Furniture Row Racing's legacy?
Furniture Row Racing's legacy is a single-car operation that punched well above its weight. Its 2017 title, its Chase appearances and its Denver base mark it out, while its former staff and charter continue in other teams and in a charity-focused racing organisation.
The team's alliances mattered too. It worked with Richard Childress Racing from 2010 to 2015 and then with Joe Gibbs Racing from 2016 to 2018, combining its own operation with the engineering and parts of larger partners.
Perhaps the most lasting legacy is the one that came after the closure. Much of the former team operates as Falci Adaptive Motorsports, a nonprofit that provides adaptive motor racing for people with physical disabilities, which keeps the spirit of the operation in motorsport.
