Furniture Row Racing says it will run limited schedule

Furniture Row Racing announced on Tuesday that it will run a limited schedule in 2009.

Nemechek

"This has nothing to do with our on-track performance," team president Joe Garone said in a statement released by the team. "This is simply a business decision by Furniture Row of balancing priorities in a tough economy and, from all appearances, looks to be getting even tougher."

In only its third year as a Sprint Cup Series team, Furniture Row Racing is coming off its best year, with driver Joe Nemechek qualifying for 31 of 35 races heading into the season finale at Homestead. Nemechek also earned the pole position at Talladega in April. His best finish is 11th at Talladega in October; his average finish is 33.6 with six DNFs.

As a privately-held entity, Furniture Row Companies does not make its sales figures public. But the company is looking at retail sales trends and is tightening all expenses as a result.

"Running a limited schedule is simply a cautionary measure," said Tom Faulkner, president of Furniture Row Companies. "While we've been faring significantly better than most in our category, it's no secret that our business is tied to the health of the economy - in particular, housing starts and real estate sales."

No additional announcements regarding team staffing or any other infrastructure or organizational changes are being made at this time.

Garone added: "We've got some tough decisions to make, but we all know it will take fewer people and resources to run a limited versus full schedule. But we're also optimistic that our best days are still ahead of us."