Furniture Row Racing has exceeded expectations this season, but it might have a tough time maintaining the continuity next year that has place Martin Truex Jr. second in the Sprint Cup points standings.
The big unknown is whether Truex has priced himself out of FRR’s range. Truex signed a two-year contract with owner Barney Visser’s team in 2014 after Kurt Busch left FRR for Stewart-Haas Racing. His contract expires after the season.
“Honestly, I wish my contract was longer before this year started,” Truex said. “I have no plans of going anywhere without something crazy happening.”
Visser has every intention in keeping Truex, but he needs to find another main sponsor. Currently Visser self-sponsors FRR through his two companies, Furniture Row and Visser Precision, LLC.
Truex said he has a handshake agreement with general manager Joe Garone that he will return.
“I expect it won’t be too far out,” Truex said of an agreement. “There are some things that the team needs to figure out and get their ducks in a row before we nail down all the details.”
One option to generate more money to help keep Truex is switching manufacturers. FRR has been the owner of the black Chevrolet 78 car since its inception in 2005. Visser said there hasn’t been any money coming from Chevy, and he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. Toyota offered incentives for Visser to make a switch in cars last season, and calls are likely to increase this offseason with FRR’s success.
Truex drove a Toyota in his previous stop with Michael Waltrip Racing. He said there are slight differences between the Toyota and Chevy models, but he wouldn’t be opposed to a switch.
He does worry, however, about tinkering with a race team that has helped him jump from 24th a year ago in the points standings to contending for the championship this season.
In a sport dominated by giant teams with 500-man crews such as Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, Truex’s 78 car has been one of the fastest every week with a 50-man crew and no race teammates.
“I’ve never had a group that I had this much confidence in before,” Truex said. “I’ve had some good groups, but we were never this consistent. I want to keep this going, so I have to do whatever it takes.”
After a third-place finish at Michigan, Truex joined Richard Petty as the only two drivers to have 14 top-10 finishes in their first 15 races of a season.
Truex compared his instant connection with rookie crew chief Cole Pearn to the way six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson bonded with crew chief Chad Knaus.
“The reason Jimmie has been so successful for so long is because of that group led by Chad,” Truex said. “My career has been so up and down. I want that.”
Truex is now focused on getting another thing Johnson and Knaus have made a career of this year — winning championships.
Cameron Wolfe: 303-954-1891, cwolfe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/CameronWolfe
