RELATED: Furniture Row suspended post-Atlanta | Truex responds to penalties
CONCORD, N.C. -- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. described the loss of crew chief Cole Pearn for a week as "a bump in the road," and "not a huge deal" Wednesday during a break in Goodyear's tire test at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
"It's all about preparation and Cole has the team prepared," the Furniture Row Racing driver said. "We've got a good plan in place to make sure we do all the right things throughout the weekend. We'll just see how it goes, but all in all, I don't think it will be a huge deal."
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NASCAR suspended Pearn for one championship points race for a rules violation involving the roof flap on the team's car at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month. The violation was discovered during pre-race inspection of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
Pearn was already on probation, through Dec. 31, 2016, for a similar issue at Daytona International Speedway. That incident came during pre-qualifying inspection; as a result, the team was unable to make corrections to the car in time for Truex to make a qualifying attempt for the season-opening event.
MORE: Truex comes up inches short of Daytona win
In addition to the one-race suspension, Pearn also was fined $50,000. Truex Jr. was docked 15 championship driver points, and the team was penalized 15 owner points.
The team initially said it would appeal the penalties, and received a deferral from NASCAR, allowing Pearn to take part in last weekend's test and race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Tuesday, the team announced it had withdrawn its appeal request, and that Pearn would sit out this weekend's Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Former crew chief Todd Berrier, now head of fabrication for Joe Gibbs Racing, will call the race for the team on Sunday in Pearn's absence. Pearn was on hand to work with the team during the tire test at CMS.
"I know that Todd's … not labeled as the crew chief," Truex said. "He's going to help us call the race, sit on the (pit) box, make sure everything is going smoothly. Kind of be the middle guy, I guess, between Cole and the rest of the guys. …
"Technically I guess he's not the crew chief, so I'm not sure how much he'll be around our garage during the weekend, or what's going to happen. I'll just play it by ear and let them figure it out."
Truex said it was important for Pearn to be at Las Vegas, a 1.5-mile track, because of the test day on Thursday, as well as for the race.
"What we do there, the things we learn and things we work through and figure out there, really … lead into California and places like that," he said. "There was a lot to learn, a lot to go through. I feel like Phoenix is a lot more straightforward of a race weekend. There's not quite as much to learn. You go there, you feel like you're close, hopefully, and then you kind of tweak on it from there.
"There's just so much that can be learned on those big tracks, especially when you get a test day. … It was huge to have him at Vegas for sure."
Joining Truex for the two-day (Tuesday/Wednesday) Goodyear tire test at CMS were drivers Brian Scott (Richard Petty Motorsports), Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) and Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing).
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