RELATED: Move to Toyota eased by JGR alliance
The 2015 season was a Cinderella story for Martin Truex Jr.
Like any picture-perfect fairy tale, Truex arose from the shadows with surprising power, earning an impressive 22 top-10s and leading 567 laps -- the seventh-most in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series -- and advancing to the Championship 4 in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
But he didn't do it alone -- after all, even Cinderella had help in earning her happily-ever-after ending.
Enter Cole Pearn, the driving force behind the Furniture Row Racing machine. His Fairy Godfather, if you will. The mild-mannered crew chief seemed to jell with Truex right away in 2015, their freshman year together.
"We could be brothers, I think," Truex said of Pearn at Charlotte Media Tour. "Real similar personality-wise … Grew up watching our dads race, going to the race track."
Their on-track chemistry yielded the results Furniture Row was searching for last season. And this season, they'll add two more ingredients to the dynamic mix: A manufacturer change from Chevrolet to Toyota and a technical alliance with powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing.
"It's been a pretty unbelievable offseason at this point," Pearn said. "Coming off last year just feels like a lifetime ago … But as busy as it's been, it's definitely been equally as exciting. I can't think of one thing where, or one area of our team that we're getting worse in and we're not improving."
RELATED: Truex could get even better
The multiple changes have Pearn and Co. working diligently to prep for the season-opening Daytona 500 (Feb. 21, 1 p.m. ET, FOX). With so many moving parts, the biggest challenge heading into the "Great American Race" for Pearn is "getting there," he said with a laugh.
As the days until the Daytona 500 dwindle down, Pearn acknowledges the partnerships with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota that have made the transition smooth. He calls Toyota's support "unbelieveable" and says the JGR relationship is "very open and very hands-on-deck."
But JGR is also providing one, lesser-known force to the Denver, Colorado-based team: Pit crew members. For a team that struggled on pit road in 2015, the addition of consistently fast JGR pit crew members is the finishing touch to their newly furbished program.
"Their whole approach on the pit crew side is just unbelievable," Pearn said. "Staggering to see the commitment they've put into it. So, to be a part of that is a huge step for us, Furniture Row as a company -- that's always been kind of one of our Achilles' heel and to be partnered with arguably one of the best pit crews on pit road is really exciting."
As Furniture Row continues to deepen its alliance in 2016 with Joe Gibbs Racing -- which has talented young stars like Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez waiting in the wings -- a lingering question arises: Will the one-man show expand to a second car?
Maybe one day.
"It's something that we want to work on, to get ourselves -- Furniture Row -- in a position to do that," FRR General Manager Joe Garone said at media tour. " … Some of that comes with sponsorship, getting the 78 to a certain level of funding, and then being able to go ahead and start a second team.
"Of course, if you look at the landscape, it only makes sense -- if there's room at Furniture Row, then we would be interested in doing that. So, I think there is a scenario there that could lead us to a second car with a Joe Gibbs driver."
With all the boxes being checked and momentum continuing to build for the team, fans of the No. 78 likely will look for a Cinderella-like sequel in 2016 for the Truex-Pearn duo. Considering all the factors heading into the season, it certainly seems doable.
"Some days you get the panic attack setting in, like 'How are we going to pull this all together?' " Pearn said. "But at the same time, you look back at where we are and where we're going and you just can't help feel excited about the future."