NASCAR’s reigning winning team was hard at work at its Denver race shop Monday, a day after Martin Truex Jr. drove the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet to the checkered flag at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
For the second time in Sprint Cup Series history, a team outside the Eastern time zone won a race. And, for the second time, team owner and Cherry Hills resident Barney Visser proved you can build a winner outside NASCAR’s North Carolina hub.
“Words can’t describe it,” said shop foreman Johnny Roten, who like most of his Denver-based FRR crew watched Sunday’s race on television. “All the guys right now are walking around like they’re on cloud nine. All the hard work, everything we set out at the first of the year to make happen, has come true for us. Look around the shop, everyone has a spring in their step.”
Truex led a race-high 97 laps Sunday. He has paced the field in laps led in each of the past four races. Jeff Gordon was the last driver to lead the most laps in four consecutive races, doing so in 2001.
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“Seeing everybody’s face this morning when you first walked in the door was pretty awesome,” Pearn said. “Lots of high-fives and hugs. It makes you really realize how much everybody puts into it, and how much it means to everybody that works here.”
Visser, who also owns the furniture business that sponsors his race team, attends nearly every race. But he wasn’t at Pocono to root on and celebrate with the team Sunday, nor was he present in 2011 at Darlington, S.C., when driver Regan Smith produced Furniture Row’s first victory.
“I just hope they let me go from now on,” Visser joked Monday.
Visser planned to attend Sunday’s race but said he was “worn out” after celebrating the birthday of his late son Saturday.
Truex’s dominance began May 9 at Kansas City, Kan., when he started fourth and finished ninth after leading 95 laps and being forced to take a splash of fuel in a late-race pit stop. FRR gave Truex a new car for the Kansas race that was also used at Dover and Charlotte. He had another new car from Denver at Pocono.
“We took a pretty good performance jump in Kansas and have just carried that on,” Pearn said. “That’s how it is with racing. You get on a roll. After coming so close to winning, it was just good to know that we could do it — to know that we could close the deal and give everybody that confirmation that we’re legit.”
The race team has no downtime this week. Pearn, general manager Joe Garone and others fly to Darlington on Tuesday for a Wednesday test session. They will return Wednesday night and fly out of Denver with added personnel Thursday for the weekend race at Michigan Speedway. Roten will send them off with another new car for Michigan.
“We think we might even have a better car for Michigan,” Garone said.
Garone, a 1978 Westminster High School graduate, has been with FRR since its 2005 inception. In comparing the team’s two wins, he said: “The first win is your first win, and it doesn’t matter how you get it. You spend your career trying to get it. That was my first Cup win, as well as Furniture Row’s, so you can’t replace that.
“But this win is on the heels of three terrific races, leading the most laps, and not getting the win. It was very satisfying to lead the most laps at Pocono and solidify it with a victory.”
Visser said he is savoring his team’s ability to consistently outrace the competition.
“For me, a win is big — it’s huge — but I’m much more excited about how the race team is running week to week right now. It’s something else,” he said.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or
