RELATED: Pearn suspended, team appeals
LAS VEGAS -- Martin Truex Jr. faced the media for the first time on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since the suspension announcement of his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing crew chief Cole Pearn.
Pearn's one-race suspension comes after a P3 rules violation from last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Pearn was also fined $50,000, while Truex Jr. was penalized 15 championship driver points and team owner Barney Visser was docked 15 championship owner points.
"I think from Cole's side he's a little frustrated about how it all went down, which is understandable," Truex said. "People in the garage area talk and he feels like, 'Do people really think I'm stupid enough after what happened at Daytona to try to pull something over on NASCAR in the same area?'
"Being that it's a safety issue, it's really a big deal to us to figure out exactly how it all happened. He'll figure exactly how to make sure something like this doesn't happen again and he'll go through the appeal process and see what comes of it."
Because the team is appealing the penalty, Pearn's suspension and fine are temporarily deferred until the matter is heard. According to a NASCAR spokesperson, as of Friday, no date has been set for the appeal, but Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing's general manager, seems confident, regardless.
"I'm thinking it's probably a couple of weeks (until the appeal) because next week we're testing in Charlotte and then there's an owner's meeting, as well, so that's going to be a busy week, but we're prepared whenever they are," Garone told NASCAR.com.
As for who we can expect to see as the No. 78 interim pit boss should Pearn's punishment be upheld, "we have a plan," Garone said.
Pearn was placed on probation through Dec. 31, 2016, following last month's Daytona 500 for an infraction regarding the roof flap(s) on the No. 78 Toyota before qualifying. The team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time to allow Truex to make a qualifying attempt.
"In our case, this situation is kind of an odd one," Truex said. "It's not like we were trying to pull something over on somebody. This was a case where something happened that we don't really understand. I'll let the team go through the appeal process, but at the end of the day, we raced Atlanta without any issues. We had obviously a fast car and a very competitive day on the race track and I'm just looking forward to continuing that here today. So, I'll let the team figure out that side of things and I'll go out and do my job this weekend."
While Truex does his job by piloting the No. 78 Toyota to the best of his ability, Garone explains how he's kept the team focused on the task at hand during the last week.
"By not thinking about it a whole lot, and trying to take most of the load myself, and just keep it off of Cole and everybody else," Garone said. "... In some ways, it's spun up into a little bit bigger deal than it actually is, so we're just trying to keep it what it really is and focus on racing."
Truex finished seventh at Atlanta and second at Daytona despite the No. 78's issues. The New Jersey native's best finish at Las Vegas came last season when he finished second to 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.