One car or two cars? That is the question for Furniture Row Racing, which added the No. 77 Toyota to its stable this year as a temporary home for Erik Jones.
But with Jones moving to the No. 20 Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing next season, the status of the No. 77 car is uncertain. Toyota would prefer the continued operation of the team to preserve six top-level entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Team owner Barney Visser, on the other hand, is loath to run the second team out of his own pocket, leaving the procurement of sponsorship as the decisive factor as to whether the No. 77 survives or folds.
Driving the No. 78 FRR Toyota, Martin Truex Jr. is enjoying his best season in Cup racing, but Truex isn’t sure whether the addition of a second car has made a real difference.
“That’s a tough question, you know?” Truex said. “On one hand, we are two teams this year for the first time ever, and we’re having our best season. This winter, I was a little nervous because I’m like, ‘Alright, we’re going to two cars. We’ve got a lot of new people here. We’ve got a lot going on. Is it going to take away from our team,’ and it hasn’t, so I don’t really know.
“I guess if we’re one car again next year then I’ll know the answer to that question then. I really don’t know. I don’t have a feel for it. I think, for us, our second year together with Toyota and all that has really helped us elevate our program and be more consistent, because there’s a lot less questions marks for us, you know? A lot more notes to go off and other things, but if we go to one car I don’t know honestly how it will affect us, or if it will. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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