Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who drove the Denver-based team to its second career victory Sunday, celebrated with his traveling crew long after taking the checkered flag at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.
In a national conference call Wednesday, Truex said cold beers, stories and on-track photos were plentiful after he led the most laps for the fourth consecutive race — becoming the first NASCAR driver since Jeff Gordon in 2001 to do that.
The only thing missing was the company of the non-traveling Denver crew — the guys who build his cars — and team owner Barney Visser of Cherry Hills, who decided not to travel Sunday morning.
Furniture Row gets its engines from North Carolina’s Earnhardt-Childress Racing, but everything from dent repair to setup is done in Denver.
General manager Joe Garone and crew chief Cole Pearn are among the handful of Denver-area residents who travel to every race. Truex and the pit crew meet them in North Carolina, NASCAR’s hub.
Truex, who grew up in New Jersey, doesn’t have much face time with the Denver crew, but expressed his appreciation.
“Super proud of all those guys out there and their commitment to what they’re doing,” Truex said. “It would for sure be nice if I could get out there a little bit more often — especially after a week like last weekend.”
Truex was speaking from Darlington, S.C., before a test session at the local speedway. He went fishing Monday in Michigan and attended his grandmother’s funeral Tuesday in New Jersey. Truex will return to Michigan on Thursday to prepare for Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.
The Denver crew will deliver a new car to Michigan. Truex won last week’s race with a new car and led the most laps in the previous three races with the car that was introduced May 9 at Kansas.
Truex sits second in the point standings, and he and leader Kevin Harvick are the only drivers to produce top-10 finishes in 13 of 14 races.
“This whole season has been so much fun for us as a team, as a group,” Truex said. “It’s the most fun I’ve had in racing in a long, long time, and I’m so thankful to drive for Barney and everybody (in Denver).”
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or
