Las Vegas – Barney Visser has two drivers to choose from while trying to become the first team owner from Colorado to race full-time in the Nextel Cup.
Visser, a Cherry Hills resident and owner of Furniture Row and Furniture Row Racing, will field a one-car team from Denver with veteran Kenny Wallace behind the wheel of the No. 78 Chevrolet for this month’s Daytona 500 and at least four ensuing races.
Arvada’s Jerry Robertson, a former late-models star at Colorado National Speedway, will be the team’s backup Nextel Cup driver and compete in the Busch Series in a Furniture Row-sponsored car owned by Doug Stringer of North Carolina.
Visser said his team, which qualified for 10 Busch races and two Cup events last year, will attempt to qualify for 36 Cup point races on an $8 million budget. The team’s crew chief is Joe Garone, who formerly called the shots for Rick Carelli and Bill Elliott and joined Furniture Row after serving as director of competition for two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip.
“My goal is to put together a quality team, more than to win a championship,” Visser said this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing. “You have to do one before the other. Right now we just have to focus on learning.”
Wallace, who filled in for 2004 Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch for Roush Racing in last year’s final two races, said his affiliation with Furniture Row “is not a career move for me.”
“This is a favor to (Visser) to get started,” he said. “This is a brand-new team against all odds based out of Denver. There is no pressure, especially because the owner is the sponsor. I’m (also) doing it because it’s better than watching the races on Sundays, and I want to run some Cup.”
Wallace, 42, also will run a full Busch schedule in an AutoZone-sponsored car owned by Greg Pollex. Wallace’s team finished seventh in last year’s Busch standings.
Robertson, 44, made 10 Busch starts and won $164,250 for Furniture Row last year. He started 43rd and finished 41st in his only Nextel Cup start, late in the season at Phoenix.
“Last year was a real learning experience, and this year is going to be the same – you never stop learning – but hopefully we’ll get closer every year and keep building on it,” Robertson said.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
