For Denver team, Cup a tough mountain to climb (cont'd)

Furniture Row uses two identical race haulers, so one can head to the next race site without waiting for the other to return. The advantage comes for western races like next week's at California Speedway, where being based in Denver allows Furniture Row's hauler to leave Wednesday night or Thursday morning, about two days later than other teams.

"The location is not a problem at all, because we have both trucks running up and down the road," Guy said. "You just have to have enough good people in place to where your stuff is done a little ahead of everybody else. Anywhere from like Texas west, we're a lot closer than anybody else."

Hiring new people involves flying potential employees out to see the shop and the area, and convincing them that racing out of Denver can work.

"I let them know about Barney and the commitment that he's made and the kind of person that he is, and the success that he's had in business for 30 years now. Because really, if you cut through the chase, guys want to have security," said Garone, who has been with the team since the beginning.

"Some people, and I've found this surprising, would rather live in Denver than in North Carolina. A lot of skiers and a lot of people who like that dry air. It's not been a bad deal."

But it has been a struggle for an organization with aspirations of expanding to two cars. That depends on sponsorship, and the team is hoping that its location can open doors to some regional companies that might not have considered backing a NASCAR entry in the past. But right now the primary focus is on improving performance for a team whose best finish was 21st in the spring race at Bristol.

"Obviously, you want to compete to run up front," Guy said. "But you've got to be realistic with your goals. Lately, we've fallen short on our goals in qualifying, and haven't really been able to work on anything race-related. But we've got a seven-post shaker machine installed [in Denver], and we're working on that a little better, the guys in the engine shop are working harder and harder to get us more horsepower.

"Things are coming around, but we're not a super team like Hendrick or Roush to where we have all those people in place. We have to do a lot of trial and error. It's paying off, it's just not showing up on the racetrack yet."