Editor’s Note: NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary. SPEED SPORT was founded in 1934 and was already on its way to becoming America’s Motorsports Authority when NASCAR was formed. As a result, we will bring you Part 70 of a 75-part series on the history NASCAR.
There were so many storylines associated with Martin Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship it was easy to forget the dominance the No. 78 Toyota displayed throughout the season.
Yes, the team is based far away from the Charlotte, N.C., center of the NASCAR universe in Denver, Colo.
Yes, Truex completed a career resurrection after he found himself rideless following the much-publicized, race-fixing scandal, which kept him out of the playoff fight during his final season at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2013.
Yes, Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser missed the championship race after undergoing emergency heart surgery prior to the penultimate race at Phoenix Int’l Raceway.
Yes, the team lost crew member Jim Watson, a close friend of crew chief Cole Pearn, to a heart attack in October.
But it was dominance on the race track that put Truex and his teammates in the record books, wrapping up the title with their eighth victory of the season Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Three of those triumphs came during the 10-race playoffs.
“This means the world,” Truex said. “Barney Visser, 11 years of working toward this goal. He couldn’t be here tonight. We’re thinking of him. Definitely wish he could be here. I know he’s probably about as much in shock as I am. But Jim Watson, Cole’s best friend, Sherry, everybody battling something, this one’s for you guys.”
Despite qualifying for the championship four finale last season and all the ups and downs of a 36-race season, the team and its family never lost faith.
“Everybody is fighting something in their life, not just cancer but any kind of struggle that they’re going through in their life,” Pollex said. “We always say if you can fight a struggle with a positive attitude and just have a smile on your face and find the good and the silver lining in everything, in the end you’ll come out and karma will pay you back and good things will happen to you.”
It was more than karma that saw Truex dominate at 1.5-mile race tracks, winning twice at Chicagoland Speedway, Homestead, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. He also triumphed on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l.
Ironically, the driver of the No. 78, led 78 laps en route to winning the season-ending Ford 400 and the Cup Series championship.
“You know, some things are just meant to be, I guess,” Truex said. “That’s all you can say. Last year wasn’t meant to be. We worked just as hard as we did this year and this year just it all came together. It felt right. It was our time and that’s proof right there, there is a higher power.”
Truex also won three poles and led 2,253 laps, while boasting an average finish of 9.4 during 36 races.
Truex joined Furniture Row Racing in 2014 and Pearn became crew chief in 2015.
“That was like the switch that flipped and me and him could see eye to eye,” Truex explained. “He bought into what I was saying, I bought into what he was saying, and when they made him the crew chief in 2015, he went from being this guy behind the scenes that was really quiet to: ‘This is my team, I’m going to run it the way I think I need to,’ and the rest is history.
“I mean, really, he is the No. 1 reason, besides Barney, giving him the things he needs to make our cars fast that have transformed this team.”
Another key to Furniture Row Racing’s rise to the top of the Cup Series was the switch to Toyotas and an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, which began prior to the 2016 season. Truex became the fourth different driver to win a Cup Series championship in the elimination-style format of the playoffs; joining Kevin Harvick (2014), Kyle Busch (’15) and Jimmie Johnson (’16).
Truex joined Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Labonte and Brad Keselowski as the fifth driver to earn Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series championships.
Busch ended up second to his JGR teammate on the strength of five victories, while Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick finished third and won twice. Brad Keselowski rounded out the top four and had three victories during the season.
Kyle Larson won a career-best four Cup Series races, while Jimmie Johnson triumphed on three occasions. Denny Hamlin and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. each won twice. Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano all won one race.
Erik Jones was named rookie of the year.
While Truex was celebrating the biggest moment of his racing career, his close friend, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was looking in the rearview mirror, driving to a 25th-place finish in his final race as full-time driver.
The duo shared a special moment in victory lane.
“It was so awesome because Dale gave me my opportunity to move to North Carolina, to race cars for a living,” said Truex, who won a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series titles driving for Earnhardt in 2004 and ’05. “You know, I wouldn’t be here today without him. My path would surely be different. I wouldn’t have won two Xfinity championships right out of the gate.
“There are a lot of things that would be different if it wasn’t for Dale, and just the friend he’s been over the years, the mentor that he’s been to me over the years, it’s been amazing. He’s such a great person.
“He’s changed a lot throughout the years, I will say, from when I met him to who he is now, but he’s always changed for the better and he’s just been an amazing friend and always been there no matter what I needed.”