During the course of the first weekend of Speedweeks, Furniture Row Racing missed a lot of on-track time due to repeated attempts to get through inspection.
On NASCAR America, Nate Ryan and Jeff Burton discussed the cause of the team’s problems, which come as it fields two cars for the first time with Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones.
“I spent some time with (Truex crew chief) Cole Pearn,” Burton said. “All of those issues are from the fact that they’ve changed their template grids at the shop. When they expanded to two teams, they changed they way they were doing things. They ended up doing the grids improperly. Coming (to Daytona), the roofs are actually low on the car, and the deck lids were high on the car, which is the exact opposite of what you want.”
Pearn told Burton it was an “honest mistake,” and the problems go beyond the team’s Daytona cars.
“They’ve been building cars for a while; they’ve got some serious work they’ve got to do to get ready for Atlanta (the season’s second race),” Burton said. “They have a lot of work they’ll have to catch up on because the grids weren’t installed the way they’re supposed to.”
Burton and Ryan also discuss the initial successes Stewart-Haas Racing has had in their transition to Ford.