Furniture Row Racing yesterday "made official its switch from Chevrolet to Toyota," and will "have a technical alliance with top Toyota team Joe Gibbs Racing" starting in '16, according to Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com. Furniture Row has been "aligned with Richard Childress Racing as part of its Chevrolet program" since '10. The length of the Toyota-Furniture Row deal "was not announced, although most of the Toyota deals with teams have been for at least three years." The deal with Toyota "could open the opportunity for the single-car organization to start a second team." Toyota "needed a second partner to Joe Gibbs Racing with the closure of Michael Waltrip Racing after this season, although Toyota had started talks with Furniture Row before the MWR decision to close after this season." Furniture Row also "has signed driver Martin Truex Jr. to a new one-year contract for next season." Both Truex and Furniture Row Racing Owner Barney Visser said that they "would have liked to eventually have a long-term deal." Visser: "We're looking for sponsorship to help us with that. The kind of contract he deserves, we're not able to do that on our own right now. So we're looking for sponsorship to help us pull that together" (ESPN.com, 9/27). USA TODAY's Jeff Gluck reports Furniture Row Racing in '17 "would like to expand to a two-car team if sponsorship is in place" (USA TODAY, 9/28). NBC's Kyle Petty said, "The alliance between Furniture Row and Toyota will be far greater and a step up instead of Furniture Row and RCR racing. I'm sorry, RCR just hasn't performed this year. ... I think we see Furniture Row get to that hump where they can be one of those top four or five teams. Now, they’ve made a move that moves them into that rarefied air up there where they can prove whether they deserve to be there” (“NASCAR America Sunday,” NBC Sports Network, 9/27).
