How Cole Pearn helped turn Furniture Row into title contenders

Not only is he a younger version, but this second-generation racer also competed behind the wheel, comes with a mechanical engineering degree and understands the importance of a life-work balance.

No, Pearn, 35, doesn’t have seven Cup championships or 81 wins. The Strathroy-Caradoc, Ontario, native might not even stick around NASCAR long enough for that to happen. 

But since taking over the crew chief reins at Furniture Row Racing in 2015, Pearn and his staff have turned the single-car team from Denver into a weekly contender—and winner.

With Martin Truex Jr., behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, the team leads the Monster Energy Cup Series with seven wins, 18 top fives, 25 top 10s and a whopping 2,175 laps led. Now, for the second time in three seasons, Furniture Row has advanced to the Championship 4 for this weekend’s title battle at Homestead Miami Speedway. 

“We kind of came in trying to do our best every week, and I think our season really shows the result of that effort,” Pearn said. “You know, ultimately the goal is to try and win as many races as you can, run as well as you can, and then hopefully have a good shot to make it to Homestead and have a chance to race for the championship.  

“You know, that's why we're here, so we're really confident in our program at this time, and just excited to get down there and go to work.”

Pearn started his career with Toyota but moved to the team side as an engineer for Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 team at Richard Childress Racing in 2007. He first moved to FRR in 2010 but returned to North Carolina the next year with JTG Daugherty Racing before heading back to Denver in 2012. Pearn was named the team’s lead engineer that season and replaced crew chief Todd Berrier, who joined Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of 2014. 

In his first full season with Truex, the No. 78 team won a Pocono Raceway in June and qualified for the Playoffs. The Pearn-led team transferred all the way to the final four at Homestead but finished 12th in the season finale behind the champion Kyle Busch and fellow title contenders Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon. Pearn considered the defeat a huge learning experience for the team.

“I think at that point we were just thrilled to have made it, and I think we didn't really know what to do,” Pearn said. “It was like a dog chasing the car, we finally caught the car and we didn't know what to do with it. This past year and the year before we really tried to take more time and get ourselves prepared for Homestead itself.  

“So I think obviously we won't see that until this weekend, but it's been in our mind for a long time, and really trying to get ourselves prepared for this race and probably have put more emphasis on it than we would have if we hadn't have gone through what we did in 2015. So I think for us that was a great learning experience and I think one that's made us a lot more prepared this year.”

The team entered the 2016 season with added conviction. They locked into the Playoffs early with a dominant run in the Coca-Cola 600 where Truex led 392 of 400 laps for the team’s first win. Truex followed that up with a Southern 500 win and two victories in the first round of the Playoffs. But an engine failure at Talladega Superpseedway knocked FRR out of contention before the Round of 8. 

Pearn knew the team had to elevate its game for 2017 to avoid pitfalls such as Talladega. And when NASCAR introduced stage racing this season, the format offered Pearn another challenge to refine their program along the way. The team excelled under the new structure and won 19 of 71 stages in the first 35 races. Eighteen of those stage wins came in the first 26 races which earned the No. 78 team the regular season title and a 53-playoff points before the Playoffs began.

“Last year was a big step forward for our team in terms of performance, and we came into the Chase at that point with a lot of confidence and were able to start off really good, and then we kind of had a weak round and ended up losing a motor at Talladega that took us out,” Pearn said. “But I think we looked at how can we prepare ourselves for that to not happen, and fortunate enough with stage points and bonus points this year and then having a regular season championship to chase after, we really targeted those things to try and build that cushion, so to speak, that if we were forced with something like we had last year that it wouldn't take us out.

“Ironically enough, we haven't had to use really any of those points yet to this point, just because we've had such a strong playoff to this point.”

Pearn is not intimidated that the team is racing against three former champions. He has had the luxury of knowing the competition well—particularly having worked directly with Harvick and through the technical alliance FRR shares with JGR.

Despite the competition's former accomplishments, Furniture Row Racing’s performance this season has the team labeled as the favorite entering Ford Championship Weekend.

“Yeah, I think we're pretty comfortable with that,” Pearn said. “I think that's a better position than the alternative for sure. I think you get that kind of title from the results of your efforts all year. 

"For us, we've been near the front most of the year and kind of been in that role a lot of the season. So I think this weekend is no different, just ready to embrace it and just go do our deal.”

Watch Pearn talk about his team's chances this weekend in the season finale: