FANTASY NASCAR Racin

BARNEY VISSER – 04/21/1949
Furniture Row Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The team is owned and sponsored by Furniture Row, a U.S. furniture store chain, and is based in Furniture Row's home city of Denver, Colorado; it is the only NASCAR team headquartered west of the Mississippi. The team was also the first single car team ever to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which it did in 2013 with Kurt Busch, again in 2015 and 2016 with Martin Truex. The team made its NASCAR debut in the Busch Series at Nashville Superspeedway in 2005 with Jerry Robertson driving, starting 24th and finishing 33rd. Robertson ran ten races with the team in 2005, his best finish being a 22nd at California Speedway. The team made two Sprint Cup appearances as well, with Kenny Wallace debuting the team at Dover International Speedway. Wallace was scheduled to drive the first five races in 2006 and Robertson filling out the rest of the schedule. At the 2006 Daytona 500, Wallace failed to put the No. 78 Furniture Row car in the field. Wallace qualified for the next two races, at California Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing 41st and 38th. However, the performance of the team was not good enough to

make the Top 35 in points, and the team ran with various drivers for the rest of the year, Jimmy Spencer (both Pocono races) and Travis Kvapil (at road courses) also drove the car. The team also teamed up with PPI Motorsports to share equipment and resources throughout the season. Wallace was hired to continue to be the full-time driver in 2007. Wallace had two sixth-place starts this season but was released in August 2007. After Scott Wimmer and Sterling Marlin failed to qualify in the car in the following weeks, Joe Nemechek was named permanent driver. FRR completed a 3-year contract with Nemechek (2008–2010) towards the end of the season. In early 2008, Wallace returned to Furniture Row to drive in the

Daytona 500 in a car that was supposed to serve as a safety net for Nemechek in case his team didn't make the field. Instead, Nemechek locked himself into the field with a third place qualifying run, and Wallace secured a spot in the race in the Gatorade Duels. At the spring Talladega race, Nemechek gave the team their first pole. In the fall race at that track, Nemechek gave FRR its then-best finish ever of 11th. For 2009 the team announced it would cut back to a part-time schedule due to money constraints. Joe Nemechek was to remain as the driver but the team bought out the rest of his contract after he refused to run a partial schedule. Regan Smith ran 18 races in the #78 car in 2009. The team resumed full-time duties in 2010. The team aligned with Richard Childress Racing and earned Top 35 status for the first five races of 2010 by purchasing the

owner points from RCR's #07 car. Childress was listed as the official owner of the #78. On November 15, 2010, the Furniture Row Racing transporter and motorcoach were destroyed in an accident on Interstate 25 about forty miles from the team's Denver headquarters. Richard Childress Racing provided the team a fully equipped transporter for Furniture Row's use at Homestead. At the 2011 Daytona 500, Smith gave Furniture Row its first top ten, with a seventh-place finish. On May 7, 2011, Smith gave Furniture Row its first top five finish, and first victory, at Darlington Raceway in the Southern 500, holding off Carl Edwards. In 2012, the team struggled mightily, and Pete Rondeau was replaced as crew chief by former RCR crew chief Todd

announced that Smith would be replaced by Kurt Busch beginning at the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte. In the 2013 season, Busch improved the status of Furniture Row as a team, with the car becoming more competitive and running in contention more frequently than not. In the first 26 races, Busch recorded 8 top five and 13 top ten finishes, and one pole position (at Darlington in May). These were statistics easily comparable to drivers who were running with the powerhouse teams. The team also had low points, such as a scary wreck in the May race

combined with a second-place finish at Richmond, secured the team a Chase berth entry. This marked Busch's eighth season making the Chase. This also made Furniture Row Racing the first ever single car team to race into the Chase. In August 2013, it was announced that Busch would not be returning to FRR for 2014, as he had signed with Gene Haas to drive with Stewart-Haas Racing starting at the 2014 Daytona 500. The team also announced that they had extended their alliance with RCR. For close to two months, speculation over who would replace Busch at Furniture Row had suggested Juan Pablo Montoya to be the most likely candidate, as Montoya is being replaced in the #42 at Chip Ganassi Racing by Kyle Larson, with other potential candidates being Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte. However, Montoya eventually announced that he would join Team Penske in the Indy Car Series. In early October, after

Michael Waltrip Racing announced that their #56 team was being cut to a part-time team due to the loss of NAPA Auto Parts as a sponsor in the fallout from the 'Spin-gate' scandal at Richmond, it was reported that Furniture Row was in talks with Martin Truex Jr. to sign him on as driver. The announcement also added that FRR had hired all of the crewmen from Truex's MWR team as well, making for a smoother transition, as Busch had lost several shots at winning races simply because of slow pit stops that plagued the team throughout the season. Truex had a bad year in 2014, scoring only 5 top tens, leading only 1 lap and finished 24th in the standings. To add insult to injury, Truex's girlfriend Sherry Pollex was diagnosed with ovarian

cancer. Following that year where Truex failed to gel as much as everybody hoped, the team released crew chief Todd Berrier from duty and hired rookie crew chief Cole Pearn. Truex's performance dramatically improved during the 2015 season, largely due to the new driver-crew chief relationship between Truex and Cole Pearn. During the Daytona 500, Truex led one lap and finished 8th. Truex earned nine top tens throughout the first 10 races, finishing second at Las Vegas. He led the most laps at Kansas and appeared on his way to a win, when a poor pit stop shuffled him to a ninth place finish. After leading the most laps for four consecutive races, Truex and Furniture Row finally broke into victory lane, finishing winning the

Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 at Pocono Raceway in June getting Furniture Row Racing its 1st Cup Series victory since the Southern 500 in 2011 and breaking a 69 race winless streak for Truex. The win locked Truex and the team into the Chase for the Cup for 2015 and put him second in the standings. The next week, Truex would finish 3rd in a rain shortened race at Michigan International Speedway becoming the first driver since Richard Petty in 1969 to score 14 top 10s in the first 15 races of the season. Truex would not visit victory lane for the rest of the year but did score a total of 22 top 10s, including 8 top 5s, and finished 4th in the championship standings after racing his way to the championship 4 at Homestead. On September 27, 2015, it was confirmed that Truex had resigned with Furniture Row for 2016 and beyond. The

team also announced a switch to Toyota in 2016, receiving a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and engines from Toyota Racing Development. Truex would win his second race with Furniture Row on May 29, 2016 after leading a record breaking 392 of 400 laps of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Truex was able to score his first multi-win season as he won the Southern 500 at Darlington and then scored off a victory at Chicagoland passing leader Ryan Blaney with 4 laps to go. Truex scored his fourth win of the season two races later at Dover, However for the 78, the car lost the engine at Talladega, cutting the car from the chase. On August 7, 2016, it was announced that Erik Jones had signed a deal with Furniture Row Racing to drive in their new No. 77 car sponsored by 5-hour Energy for the 2017 season. It marked the return of the #77 for the first time since Charlotte fall in 2014, then operated by Randy

Humphrey Racing. Erik Jones has a contract with Joe Gibbs Racing; and since Furniture Row and Joe Gibbs Racing share a technical alliance; Furniture Row will provide a place for Jones to race so he can move on up to the Cup series. Jones is expected to be one of several candidates to run for Rookie of the Year. This will be the first time that Furniture Row has been more than a single car team. As the 2016 season ends; Furniture Row has raced in the Cup series for 12 seasons. They have won six races (five in the past two season); had 31 top five and 71 top ten finishes. The best finish in the Championship was fourth by Truex in 2015. Jones had several good finishes as he had three Top 3 finishes with a second at Bristol. He won Rookie of the Year for 2017; and it appeared that

expanding to a two car team helped Martin Truex step up his game. Truex had a great season; posting an impressive eight wins (all on 1 1/2 mile tracks) and he went on to claim the 2017 Cup Series Championship. As expected Jones will be moving to drive for Joe Gibbs in 2018; taking the car vacated by Matt Kenseth. FRR remained as a single car team with technical support from Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018. After winning the Cup Championship; owner Barney Visser and driver Martin Truex were looking to repeat the feat. Truex started off the season with an 18th place finish in the Daytona 500, after being caught up in a late race wreck. For the next few weeks, he picked up top five

finishes in five straight races, including two poles, and a win at California. Three of the next four races he would crash out; but followed that up with four Top 5 finishes including a win at Pocono. He won again two weeks later at Sonoma. After fourth and second place finishes, he again found himself in victory lane at Kentucky. Truex was having a great season and found himself as part of what was dubbed "the big three". Three racers had stepped up and above all the others, and were dominating the races. For the season Truex had four wins, while Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick had eight each. Although Truex would not win again the rest of the season, he was always a contender. He marched through every round of the Chase and was one of the four drivers in contention to win the Championship. Truex had extra motivation to win this season especially. In September, Barney Visser announced that with the loss of major sponsor 5-hour Energy, he had no choice but to announce that the team would cease

operation at the end of the 2018 season. The increased cost for technical support and the alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing also put a bite on the teams pocket book. So heading into the final race Truex looked strong. He was second fastest in happy hour practice and qualified third. He finished inside the top five in both the stages and with just a few laps to go it looked like Truex would win. Then a late race yellow saw the deck get shuffled. Truex led until 12 laps to go when a hard charging Joey Logano wrest away the lead and went on to claim the win and the Championship. Truex would finish second less than two second behind. In November it was announced that Truex and his crew chief Cole Pearn had been hired by Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the #19 machine. Barney Visser did win one final thing before he closed down. He won the 2018 Car Owners Championship. The #78's Charter was sold to Spire Sports + Entertainment in early December. On December 7th, Furniture Row Racing closed the doors for the final time, leaving the shop dark. For it's time in competition Furniture Row Racing would field cars for 14 seasons. Those drivers made 451 starts in the Cup series. They won 18 times and had 75 Top 5 finishes. They won the Cup Championship in 2017 and the Car Owners Championship in 2018.