The Legend of Cole Pearn grows after gash on face spotted in Victory Lane

Cole Pearn took his third trip to Victory Lane this season Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, orchestrating perhaps the most inventive pit call strategy we've seen this season to lead Martin Truex Jr. to his third career road-course victory. MORE: Truex wins at Sonoma after tricky pit call Just another feather in the baseball cap atop the Furniture Row Racing crew chief's head. Only he wasn't wearing his trademark cap after the race, for a very particular reason -- he had a giant, open gash on his forehead. What. Take a look. (Sorry in advance.) [caption id="attachment_126386" align="alignnone" width="922"] Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images[/caption] MORE: Cole Pearn drums to his own beat What the heck happened, man!? Lumberjack accident? Errant hockey stick during a game of summer roller hockey? Fender-bender in the Tim Horton's drive-thru? Something even more Canadian rock star-ish? Nay. "I wish I was fighting a bear or a cougar or something cool, but my wife has been on me about building this treehouse for our kids," Pearn said post-race. "Anyways, I wanted nothing to do with it, but we were fortunate with the West Coast race we were able to fly out Friday morning, so I actually like had somewhat of a day off on Thursday and I decided to get involved. "They kind of had it screwed up a bit from what they had done before, and we kind of took it all down and reset, and we were resetting like a four‑by‑four corner post, and I thought my wife had it and she didn't, and I walked away to get a clamp and she yelled my name and I turned right into it and basically got KO'd by it. "But yeah, it went right down to my skull, bled a lot, and had to get stitched on the inside, then on the outside. Was back in about an hour, and I worked until about 9 Thursday night and I finished the stupid thing, so I'm glad it's done." RELATED: Childers on Pearn: 'We're square now' Well, then. Not exactly the kind of hardcore story we were expecting, but impressive, nonetheless. Maybe next time go to the resident NASCAR treehouse expert for advice, though? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB-w1iSduM4 At the very least, the knock to the noggin might have influenced Pearn's pit call on Sunday that led the win, at least according to FRR team president Joe Garone. "He probably wouldn't have made that call," Garone joked, "if he wouldn't have been hit in the head."