But Furniture Row Racing had a car in the Chase and needed a driver with Kurt Busch leaving for Stewart-Haas Racing next season. And so from the moment on Sept. 20 when Michael Waltrip said Truex was free to look for a new ride, joining the Colorado-based team appeared like a good fit for both the veteran driver and the up-and-coming team.
The 33-year-old Truex announced Friday at Texas Motor Speedway that he signed a multiyear deal Thursday night to drive for Furniture Row Racing starting in 2014.
“As unlucky I got at Richmond a month or two ago, I got just as lucky when this deal turned up,” Truex said. “What can you say? I guess all things happen for a reason. … It’s been tough. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions to say the least.”
On Sept. 7 at Richmond International Raceway, Truex thought he had overcome his struggles with a mediocre car and a broken wrist to make the Chase.
But two days later, NASCAR penalized Truex 50 points after ruling that MWR had manipulated the finish when teammate Clint Bowyer spun late in the race to bring out a caution flag and Brian Vickers pitted to give up spots on the track to Joey Logano, who needed to finish in the top 10 for Truex to make the Chase.
That 50-point penalty knocked Truex out of the Chase. A week later, NAPA announced that it would leave MWR with two years left on its contract because of the incident, leaving Truex without a ride for next season.
Once NAPA announced its decision, it appeared that Truex likely would land at Furniture Row, which had been unable to re-sign Busch or sign Juan Pablo Montoya. Furniture Row became the first single-car organization to make the Chase as Busch finished the regular season eighth in the standings.
Furniture Row Racing general manager Joe Garone said that Truex’s pit crew will move with him to the team, which has changed most of its pit-crew members throughout the season as it struggled to find the right combination on pit road.
HARVICK APOLOGIZES
Austin Dillon, who was called a “punk-ass kid” by Kevin Harvick last week, said he got a face-to-face apology Friday morning from Harvick.
Harvick called Austin and Ty Dillon "punk-ass kids" after he and Ty wrecked during the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. Harvick, who will move from RCR to Stewart-Haas Racing next season, said the Dillons — grandsons of team owner Richard Childress — were rich kids who had things given to them and were the reason why he was leaving the organization.
In his weekly appearance Wednesday on SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel, Austin Dillon said Harvick had been a hero of his for helping RCR through the tough times as the replacement for Dale Earnhardt following Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500. He also said he had forgiven Harvick, who had apologized Sunday on television.
“As soon as he saw (what I said), he messaged me and asked me to come talk to him when he got to the track,” Austin Dillon said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. “We had a conversation in the motorhome, and I think we are both better for it at this point in time.
“He apologized for it and was nice.”
DILLON WINS TRUCKS RACE
Speaking of trucks, Ty Dillon led 130 of the 147 laps for a dominating victory in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Texas, while Matt Crafton had another top-10 finish Friday night to move closer to a season championship.
Crafton finished 10th and has a 46-point lead over defending series champion James Buescher with two races left.
While describing the No. 88 Toyota as "horrendously bad" early, Crafton's crew kept making adjustments. He was running around 19th late in the race.
Dillon drove the No. 3 Chevrolet to its 100th NASCAR victory across the sanctioning body's three main series, including the late Dale Earnhardt in Cup races. Dillon was greeted in Victory Lane by Richard Childress, his grandfather and truck owner.
JOHNSON DOESN’T EXPECT PAYBACK
While Greg Biffle was joking — we think — when he asked reporters Tuesday if Jimmie Johnson had extra braces in the rear bumper of his car for the race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Johnson doesn’t think he has to worry about any payback or fallout from their incident at Martinsville Speedway.
Biffle confronted Johnson after the race last week, grabbing him by the collar to let him know he was furious with Johnson for hitting him in the rear bumper and causing an already damaged bumper cover to nearly fly off his car.
The two drivers haven’t talked since the incident, but Biffle has said he wanted to call to apologize to Johnson for the way he acted while still saying that Johnson was wrong to run into him.
“I do feel like things are under control there,” Johnson said Friday at Texas. “If he was that angry in the car, he probably would have turned me around at Martinsville.
“I just don’t see how it would linger on and on. I certainly hate that things turned out as they did but I don’t think it’s going to go any further.”
Johnson and Matt Kenseth are tied for the lead in the series standings with three races left in the season. Biffle, who had to rally from the rear of the field to finish ninth at Martinsville, is seventh in the standings but with no shot to win the championship.
So Johnson has a lot more to lose if Biffle retaliates.
FRANCE WANTS MORE CONTACT
NASCAR Chairman Brian France wouldn’t mind seeing some fender banging between championship contenders Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth down the stretch.
France, speaking on SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel this week, reiterated that NASCAR is a “contact sport” and that close racing often results in contact between two drivers.
Such an incident occurred last week at Martinsville Speedway when Kevin Harvick and Ty Dillon wrecked during the Camping World Truck Series race, which resulted in Harvick ripping Richard Childress Racing teammates Ty and Austin Dillon. A Ty Dillon crewman also threw a hammer at Harvick’s truck on pit road.
“This is a contact sport,” France said on SiriusXM. “You’re going to have times when, late in the race, things are going to happen and, as I’ve said many, many times, there are always limits, but (we) expect in a truck race or any race that drivers with a faster car (are going) to be having some contact.”
France wouldn’t even mind seeing some contact during the final three races between Johnson and Kenseth, who are tied for the points lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
WALLACE LANDS BIG FOLLOWER
Darrell Wallace Jr. wasn’t too concerned about his father’s car getting towed Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Wallace was still soaking up the fact that he had earned his first NASCAR national series win just five days earlier in the Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
And to the victor, came some spoils: “The coolest (thing) that happened was Tyra Banks followed me on Twitter,” he said Friday with a smile.
Wallace, the first African-American driver in nearly 50 years to win a national NASCAR series race, appeared on several national television shows during a hectic week.
The 20-year-old driver did admit that the name Arsenio Hall at first didn’t register with him.
“I’m horrible with faces and names and they’re like, ‘Arsenio Hall? That’s huge,’” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Sure. Whoever that is. OK.’ And then I saw him and I’m like, ‘Oh, I know who he is.’ That was pretty cool.”
As father as his father’s car getting towed: “I don’t know (what happened),” Wallace said. “I wasn’t driving. I just walked off. My dad said, ‘We got towed.’
“I’m like, ‘That’s your problem, not mine.’ … Back to reality, I guess.”
DANICA REASSURED BY GODADDY
Danica Patrick has appeared in Super Bowl commercials for sponsor GoDaddy since 2007, so if the company had decided not to use her in 2014, she probably would have wondered about her future with the website hosting company.
She doesn’t have anything to worry about other than her spot in the Sprint Cup standings, where she’s 28th with three races left in her rookie season. GoDaddy announced Thursday that she would appear in at least one of its Super Bowl commercials in 2014. Patrick has appeared in 12 Super Bowl commercials, the most of any celebrity.
“Would I be concerned if I wasn’t in the Super Bowl commercials? I don’t know, I suppose I would wish I was and wonder why not,” Patrick said Friday after practice at Texas Motor Speedway.
GoDaddy brought in a new CEO, Blake Irving, in January and he told the Associated Press a couple of weeks ago that “she’s going to be with us for an awful, awful long time.”
While hearing those words was comforting, Patrick didn’t know the Super Bowl ads featuring her were confirmed until this week.
GoDaddy has been a company in transition since being sold two years ago to a private equity partnership. While it has dropped its IndyCar team sponsorship, it appears Irving is happy with the NASCAR program, which goes at least through 2014.
TWEETS OF THE DAY
What sports figures are saying in 140 characters or less.
— “FYI this is NOT @MartintruexJr56’s new Twitter account. It is a fake account for those that are asking!!” — Truex girlfriend Sherry Pollex, who posted a link to the fake account.
— “Thank you @MartinTruexJr56 We appreciate your years w us. You’re a great racer and a great person. All the best to you and @SherryPollex” — Michael Waltrip
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Chase leaders Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson will hit the track for two more practice sessions before Sunday’s crucial race at Texas Motor Speedway. Kenseth and Johnson, who have 12 wins between them this year, are tied at the top of the points standings with just three races remaining. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon carries an eight-point lead over Sam Hornish Jr. into Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.
Contributors: Bob Pockrass, Jeff Owens, The Associated Press
