NASCAR's 2017 Championship-Winning Team Is Shutting Down

From Road & Track

Furniture Row Racing, the Colorado-based NASCAR team that won the Monster Energy Cup championship last year with Martin Truex Jr, will shut down at the end of the 2018 season. In a statement, team owner Barney Visser explained that it's all due to a lack of funding, following the departure of one of the team's largest sponsors, 5-Hour Energy.

"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," Visser said. "This was obviously a painful decision to arrive at knowing how it will affect a number of quality and talented people.

"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. "

Furniture Row Racing is still in contention for a championship this year, with Truex sitting third in regular-season points. The team is remarkable beyond its championship win last year, too. It helped Erik Jones win rookie of the year in 2017, and is the only NASCAR team not based in the Carolinas.

This leaves Truex without a drive next year, with no announcement made about his future beyond the 2018 season. It's also unclear where his crew chief, Cole Pearn, or any of the other members of the Furniture Row team will end up.

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