|
Pearn served as crew chief for Martin Truex Jr.
for the past five seasons, first with the No. 78 Furniture Row
Racing Toyota and then with the No. 19 Toyota when the duo moved
to Joe Gibbs Racing after Furniture Row closed shop following
the 2018 season.
Their crowning moment came at the season-ending race in
Homestead, Fla., in 2017, when they won the race and took home
the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Pearn, 37, expanded on his reasoning in an interview on SiriusXM
NASCAR Radio on Monday night:
"Everybody in the sport understands the grind of what the
schedule is," Pearn said. "To do it at the top level, you got to
be all the way in. I was somehow making it work with my family
until my kids got in school and once they're in school and you
have a day off on a Thursday, it doesn't really matter. You
pretty much go all week and you barely see 'em.
"I didn't want to look back at my life and miss those moments.
For me to get the opportunity to work in racing has been just a
dream come true and then to have the success we've had just
blows my mind. When you've achieved more than you've ever
dreamt, you look at the other things in your life that you've
been missing. I just felt like it was time."
Though the announcement seemed to catch most off-guard, the
person with whom Pearn is most synonymous had nothing but
praise.
"I cannot say enough good things about Cole and what he has
meant for my career," Truex said. "I appreciate his hard work
and dedication to our race team over the past six years going
back to when he was my engineer at Furniture Row," Truex said.
"Our friendship is what matters most to me and I'm happy that
he's doing what's best for him and his family."
Since 2015, Pearn and Truex have teamed up to win 24 races and
make the Final 4 in the NASCAR playoffs in four of five seasons.
Truex finished runner-up to champion Kyle Busch at Homestead
this past season, a rare mix-up with tires during a pit stop
pushing Truex too far back in the field for him to completely
recover.
Joe Gibbs Racing has not announced who will replace Pearn in the
No. 19 box next season.
--Field Level Media
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
