'No worries' for Truex over FRR single-car future

Martin Truex Jr. is ready to once again be the lone wolf at Furniture Row Racing.

"No worries," Truex told RACER after qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point leader will not have a teammate next season as FRR announced this week it will shut down the No. 77. The organization had expanded to two cars this year with Truex working with rookie Erik Jones.

Going back to a single-car effort doesn't concern Truex, who has been in this position before. When he joined FRR in 2013, Truex was the team's only driver. And until this year, FRR, which debuted in the series in 2005, had always been a one-car operation. Furthermore, Truex will continue to have the four drivers from the Joe Gibbs Racing camp to work with through the technical alliance.

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"It'll be fine," Truex said. "It's hard to say how [having two cars] affected us this year honestly because we've had our best season yet going and I think a lot of us were a little worried about expanding last winter and it affecting us.

"It's definitely not [new]. We're used to it. Since I've been at Furniture Row we've only had one out of our four years together that was a two-car team, and I honestly don't think a whole lot changed. I think it'll be fine."

A career year it has been for Truex. Sitting atop the playoff standings, Truex is already locked into the Round of 8 and has six wins on the season. He has also scored 21 top-10 finishes in 30 races with 1,977 laps led.

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Jones, meanwhile, has not been to victory lane but has been the superior rookie in the series. In addition to earning his first career pole at Bristol Motor Speedway in August, Jones has 12 top-10 finishes and is 19th in points.

Team owner Barney Visser and general manager Joe Garone have expressed interest in keeping as many employees as possible, despite the loss of the No. 77 team. Saying they would have one super team, Truex doesn't believe his core group of team members, led by crew chief Cole Pearn, will change.

"Our group of guys have worked really well together and have done an awesome job this year," said Truex.

There will be benefits to having extra hands working around the race shop, however.

"I think a lot of that goes back to the shop and making sure we have enough help," he said. "Especially with the short turn-around times and us having to load a day early [being based in Colorado] than everybody else. I think just make sure we're fully staffed there and ready to go."

He then added with a smile about his team owner's other business, "I'm sure Barney will have some guys selling furniture or something too."