Furniture Row Racing will close at the end of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
The championship-winning team announced Tuesday (Sept. 4) in a statement that it will cease to exist at the end of the season, shuttering its No. 78 team driven by Martin Truex Jr.
“This is not good for anybody,” Barney Visser, FRR team owner, said in a press statement. “The numbers just don’t add up. I would have to borrow money to continue as a competitive team and I’m not going to do that. This was obviously a painful decision to arrive at knowing how it will affect a number of quality and talented people.”
Added Visser: “We’ve been aggressively seeking sponsorship to replace 5-hour ENERGY and to offset the rising costs of continuing a team alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing but haven’t had any success. I feel that it’s only proper to make the decision at this time to allow all team members to start seeking employment for next year. I strongly believe that all of our people have enhanced their careers by working at Furniture Row Racing.”
The team had struggled to secure funding for 2019 and beyond, and its future had been called into question in recent months, with Truex implying that he had been seeking potential employment elsewhere.
FRR is the reigning Cup Series championship team, winning the 2017 title with Truex. It also fielded a second car, the No. 77, in 2017 with Erik Jones, before sponsorship woes closed the operation.
“While I am saddened by today’s announcement, I totally understand the decision,” Truex added. “Barney Visser, Joe Garone and the entire Furniture Row Racing team took me in while my career was in a bad place, and together we reached the pinnacle of the sport. I will forever be grateful to each and every one of them, and also to Furniture Row, Denver Mattress and the Visser family.
“But make no mistake, this is not the immediate end. We still have unfinished business to attend to, and that’s to give everything we have to successfully defend our Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. Right now that is foremost on my mind, as it is with the entire team.”
Furniture Row Racing began in both the Cup and XFINITY series in 2005, remaining in the latter series through the end of 2006. It won its first Cup race in 2011 at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
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