Of all the teams in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, there is no bigger surprise than the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr. They’re a bigger surprise than Kurt Busch, who missed the first three races of the season. They’re a bigger surprise than Kyle Busch, who missed the first 11 races of the season. They’re such a surprise because of all the teams, they’re a team that wasn’t really expected to make it this far into the Chase.
Look at their track record. They were well acquainted with drivers like Joe Nemechek and Kenny Wallace long before Regan Smith managed to put them on the map. He did as well as could be expected with them, but he didn’t net them a win until 2011 in the Southern 500 at Darlington. He scored a few top-10s that year other than that, but ultimately he became a mid-pack driver, as par the course for FRR.
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It wasn’t until a strong showing in 2013 with Kurt Busch that the team realized it’s potential as an organization. Granted, he was winless, but with a pole, 11 top-fives, and 16 top-10s, he mustered up a 10-place finish in the final points. He left at the end of 2013, and Truex joined the team for an otherwise miserable 2014 season. But in 2015, the team has undoubtedly come alive, and now they’re third in points with three races left in the season.
From the start of the season, Truex has been doing a stellar job in the No. 78. In the first 16 events, he finished outside of the top-10 only twice. This is on a varied arrangement of tracks from Daytona to Martinsville to Dover. He had a bit of a summer slump, but to come back and actually lead the points not once, but twice, show’s that the team is on par with Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing.
It’s been a tremendous change of fortune for the single-car team out of Colorado. Keep in mind they’ve only had one other Chase appearance, and along with Truex’s June 2015 Pocono win, two total Cup wins. A lot of the credit can go to the backing they have from Richard Childress Racing equipment-wise, but a lot of the credit can go to Crew Chief Cole Pearn. In all actuality, a lot of the credit for Truex’s 2015 success can be placed at the feet of Pearn.
Of course, Truex’s abilities can’t go without being noticed as well. He’s a driver who has persevered over the years yet hasn’t had the best of luck. This is only his third Chase appearance since his first full-time season in 2006. He only has a total of three career Cup wins, all with different teams. Yet he has hung in there through the grind and is now having a career season with a team that can focus solely on him. It’s a racer’s dream situation, and because of that he’s been setting the standard for FRR’s future.
It’s been interesting to see this team’s rise from back-of-the-pack to championship contender. They’re a team that doesn’t live beyond their means and considering they’re a single-car team they can focus solely on improving the quality of their equipment. No matter the make or model, it’s not often the No. 78 team gets itself in trouble.
2015 has been nothing short of stellar for the team and it’s shaping up to be the sort of season that defines the organization’s future. It isn’t going to be a once-in-a-while season. Rather, the No. 78 of FRR will be in contention for more championships down the road, and there will be a day, maybe soon, that they’ll have a Sprint Cup championship trophy residing at their race shop.