Truex Jr. to Furniture Row Racing in 2014

[Lap_Down]

IMO Kurt Busch raised the expectations meter for the 78 so much that I kinda feel bad for Truex... everything he does next year will be compared to this year. That's still infinitely better than not having a cup ride though.

I really miss DEI... when Truex and Junior were still in the 1 and 8.

 

[4WideRacing]

I don't know how he's gonna do better than Kurt did....

This should help him:

Furniture Row hires Truex, Jr's pit crew as well:
Joe Garone of Furniture Row said Friday that the team has hired Martin Truex, Jr's pit crew from Michael Waltrip Racing to pit the team in 2014:
IS THE RCR ALLIANCE A MULTI-YEAR THING OR AN INDIVIDUAL YEAR-BY-YEAR? THE TEAM ITSELF, YOU MADE SOME CHANGES AROUND DOVER, CREW MEMBERS, ETC. WHAT KINDS OF THINGS ARE YOU DOING TO STRENGTHEN THE TEAM FOR NEXT YEAR?
Joe Garone, General Manager of Furniture Row Racing: "It is a continual process. Our RCR deal is that we do them year-to-year, and that has been a strong program. Richard (Childress) made a commitment to make sure that that program ran as a complete open-book type of relationship, and they have stood by that. It is certainly something that we utilize. But, as Martin said earlier, one of the big advantages that we have as a single-car team with that type of alliance, is our ability to move quick. We are real agile, and focus out in Colorado is 100% is about what we are doing in that shop with a staff of about 60 people, and that makes it really strong. The RCR deal is real important. As far as personnel goes, we've had some struggles, it's not a secret, on pit road. We have been working hard to overcome that. Our pit crew didn't grow as fast as the performance of the car did last year. We've been able to secure Martin's pit crew; actually bring them on-board in full-time positions for 2014. I think that is going to really help that part of our program."(Chevy PR)(11-2-2013)

That is really great for the crew members to be able to secure jobs with a good team, but does that mean they have to relocate? It's also really great for FRR to have a good pit crew, maybe they can get a win or two next year!

 

[ayrwolf]

You mean she has finished in the top 20?!?

Honestly though, if anybody other than DP were in this situation with lack of performance in their rookie year (I see you over there, Timmy Hill) in top-tier equipment, they would not be talked about week in and week out, nor would they feel so secure about their job.

In her 31 races this season, she has an average finish of 26.2. She has a pole and one top-10, both of which came at Daytona. She has DNF'd in 5 races (all due to crashes), and has finished a lap or more down a whopping 20 times. That's 2/3 of the races this year where she DIDN'T finish on the lead lap.

To compare, the illustrious :-/ David Stremme, running 34 races, had an average finish of 26.4 in his rookie year while DNF'ing in 4 races (2 due to mecanical issues) and finishing a lap or more down 23 times. He didn't have a top-10, but he finished 11th at both Loudon and Homestead. Remember that this was with Ganassi, who wasn't exactly fielding the best equipment in NASCAR in 2006.

Now, you may say she is improving. Let's look at her last ten races. To be fair, I'll exclude the first lap crash at Kansas, and add Indianapolis instead, so as to not include the Pocono crash as well. She had finishes of 30th, 20th, 23rd, 26th, 21st, 30th, 20th, 27th, 29th, and 20th. Average those together and you get an average finish of 24.6. Not too much better than her average over the season.

Compare that to a less-hyped rookie in arguably inferior equipment, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. In 31 races this season, he has an average finish of 19.2. He has a pole at Atlanta, and a top-10 at both Richmond and Chicago. He has finished every race so far (although 3 of his finishes came many laps down), and has finished a lap or more down 10 times (not so great, but better than Danica).

In his last ten races, he has finished 18th, 19th, 18th, 16th, 10th, 8th, 24th, 17th, 30th, and 13th. Averaged out, that gives him an average finish of 17.3. (If you take Kansas out and add Indianapolis instead, where he finished 25th, the number rises to 16.8.) That number, like Danica's, is similar to his yearly average, but that doesn't change the fact that in those ten races, Ricky, on average, finished ahead of Danica by about 7 positions.

Or you can compare Danica to Kevin Harvick's rookie year
Season Races Wins Poles Top 5 Top 10 DNF Finish Start Points Position Team(s)
2001 35 2 0 6 16 1 14.1 16.1 4,406 9th

 

[Hendrick4life]

This should help him:



That is really great for the crew members to be able to secure jobs with a good team, but does that mean they have to relocate? It's also really great for FRR to have a good pit crew, maybe they can get a win or two next year!

I mean the team in in Denver, os possibly. I just feel for those other pit crew members that are not going to be with the team anymore. This is a step up for FRR, hopefully they can start breaking into being more than a Medium-Tier team in the future.

Hopefully they get a paintscheme too

 

[88 17 6 fan]

That's really, really awesome news. cool move, FRR.

 

[labontefanboy]

I can see NAPA being an associate sponsor next year with some races as the primary sponsor. This certainly supports my opinion:
NAPA Could Join Truex Jr. at FRR: Martin Truex Jr. commented about NAPA sponsorship during a Team Chevy press conference on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway:
Q) HAS NAPA LEFT THE DOOR OPEN TO ANY FUTURE DISCUSSIONS OF POSSIBLY COMING BACK WITH YOU IN YEARS TO COME?
TRUEX  I think that really at this point anything is possible. We have got a lot of great partners that we have worked with over the years. That Ive worked with personally that have shown interest in the program that we are going to put together. Yeah, I cant really say much right now about it, Im not sure, but they have been great supporters of mine the last four years. Hopefully we will be able to do something together. We have got a lot of great partners that are interested in the program and hopefully moving forward we will be able to put some things together with them.(Team Chevy)(11-3-2013)

 

[4WideRacing]

I would so love to see that happen!

 

[SBJR7]

I haven't read through this thread entirely, however I love seeing Truex in the 78! Great guy on a great team!