Furniture Row Racing - History

History

The team made its NASCAR debut in the Busch Series at Nashville Superspeedway in 2005 with Jerry Robertson driving, starting 24th and finishing 33rd. Robertson ran ten races with the team in 2005, his best finish being a 22nd at California Speedway. The team made two NEXTEL Cup appearances as well, with Kenny Wallace debuting the team at Dover International Speedway, and Robertson running at Phoenix International Raceway.

Wallace was scheduled to drive the first five races in 2006 and Robertson filling out the rest of the schedule. At the 2006 Daytona 500, Kenny Wallace failed to put the #78 Furniture Row car in the field. Wallace qualified for the next two races, at California Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing 41st and 38th. However, the performance of the team was not good enough to make the top 35 in points, and the team ran with various drivers for the rest of the year, Jimmy Spencer (both Pocono races) and Travis Kvapil (at road courses) also drove the car. The team also teamed up with PPI Motorsports to share equipment and resources throughout the season. Robertson also competed in select Busch Series events 2006, his best finish 29th.

Kenny Wallace was hired continue to be the full-time driver in 2007. Wallace had two sixth-place starts this season but was released in August 2007. After Scott Wimmer and Sterling Marlin failed to qualify in the car in the following weeks, Joe Nemechek was named permanent driver. FRR completed a 3 year contract with Nemechek (2008–2010) towards the end of the season. In early 2008, Wallace returned to Furniture Row to drive in the Daytona 500 in a car that was supposed to serve as a safety net for Nemechek in case his team didn't make the field. Instead, Nemechek locked himself into the field with a third place qualifying run, and Wallace secured a spot in the race in the Gatorade Duels. At the spring Talladega race, Nemechek gave the team their first pole. In the fall race at that track, Nemechek gave FRR its then-best finish ever of 11th. For 2009 the team announced it would cut back to a part-time schedule due to money constraints. Joe Nemechek was to remain as the driver but the team bought out the rest of his contract. Regan Smith ran 18 races in the #78 car in 2009.

The team resumed full-time duties in 2010. The team aligned with Richard Childress Racing and earned Top 35 status for the first five races of 2010 by purchasing the owner points from RCR's #07 car. Childress was listed as the official owner of the #78.

On November 15, 2010, the Furniture Row Racing transporter and motorcoach were destroyed in an accident on Interstate 25 about forty miles from the team's Denver headquarters. Richard Childress Racing provided the team a fully equipped transporter for Furniture Row's use at Homestead.

At the 2011 Daytona 500, Smith gave Furniture Row its first top ten, with a seventh place finish. On May 7, 2011, Smith gave Furniture Row its first top five finish, and first victory, at Darlington Raceway in the Southern 500, holding off Carl Edwards. In 2012, the team struggled mightily, and Rondeau was replaced as crew chief by former RCR crew chief Todd Berrier before Indy. The addition of Berrier resulted in the first back to back top-10 finishes (both 9th places) for FRR and Smith. Despite this, manager Joe Garone announced that Smith would be replaced at FRR by Kurt Busch beginning at the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte.