Furniture Row Racing, the Denver-based team that won the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series, will cease operations after this season, general manager Joe Garone told The Denver Post.

Driver Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn, as well as many of the team’s other key personnel, will move on to other teams. FRR lost its ability to fund the No. 78 Toyota after losing sponsor 5-Hour Energy in July and its ongoing failure to re-sign its technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Truex was not under contract with FRR for next season.

Truex and Pearn could be headed for four-car JGR, which requested a hefty raise to continue to support FRR with various duties, including the over-the-wall pit crew. Without JGR and 5-Hour Energy — which left FRR because of a corporate marketing change — Denver’s team felt it couldn’t compete as it was accustomed.

“It’s bad, man. It needs to be a wake-up call. It’s a wake-up call to us,” Garone said. “There needs to be a runway when a partner leaves. It’s unfortunate, for sure.”

He added: “Had 5-Hour not quit, we’d still be racing. That’s the truth. They did (quit) and we weren’t able to replace them.”

Cherry Hills resident Barney Visser founded Furniture Row Racing in 2005, making it NASCAR’s only western-based team. Truex became the 11th driver to make a start with the No. 78 in 2015, and delivered 17 of the team’s 18 wins — including a series-high eight in 2017.

FRR has 70 career top-five finishes, 126 top-10s, 15 poles and 6,142 laps led under Visser, the Denver native and Vietnam veteran who owns Furniture Row Companies, one of the country’s largest family-owned specialty home furnishings and bedding retailers.

“I’ve always felt that we could be a competitive team and run for a championship, even when it seemed like a pipe dream to many racing insiders,” Visser said in a statement. “But to be successful in any business, you need to assemble the right people and make a strong commitment to succeed. We achieved what we set out to do and feel like we climbed Mount Everest. To continue with anything less than a competitive team would not be acceptable. It’s been one incredible ride.”

Seeing a NASCAR champion pushed out of the sport “is not good for anybody,” Visser said. “The numbers just don’t add up. I would have to borrow money to continue as a competitive team and I’m not going to do that. This was obviously a painful decision to arrive at knowing how it will affect a number of quality and talented people.

“We’ve been aggressively seeking sponsorship to replace 5-hour Energy and to offset the rising costs of continuing a team alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing but haven’t had any success. I feel that it’s only proper to make the decision at this time to allow all team members to start seeking employment for next year. I strongly believe that all of our people have enhanced their careers by working at Furniture Row Racing.”

Truex enters Sunday’s regular-season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in third place in the standings, trailing JGR’s Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing. “The Big Three” have combined to win 17 of 25 races — Busch with five, Harvick seven and Truex four.

“While I am saddened by today’s announcement, I totally understand the decision. Barney Visser, Joe Garone and the entire Furniture Row Racing team took me in while my career was in a bad place, and together we reached the pinnacle of the sport,” Truex said. “I will forever be grateful to each and every one of them, and also to Furniture Row, Denver Mattress and the Visser family.

“But make no mistake, this is not the immediate end. We still have unfinished business to attend to and that’s to give everything we have to successfully defend our Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. Right now, that is foremost on my mind as it is with the entire team.”

Furniture Row Racing timeline

June 5, 2005. First NASCAR Cup race, Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Driver was Kenny Wallace (qualified: 43, finished: 34)

April 26, 2008. Driver Joe Nemechek wins the pole at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, giving FRR its first No. 1 starting position.

May 7, 2011. Driver Regan Smith gives FRR its first NASCAR Cup win, at the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

2014 season. FRR names former lead engineer Cole Pearn as the team’s new crew chief for 2015; Pearn calls the shots for 17 wins over four seasons.

June 7, 2015. Martin Truex Jr. wins his first of 17 races with FRR, parking the No. 78 in victory lane at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

2015 season. FRR announces it will switch from Chevrolet to Toyota in 2016 along with having a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.

May 29, 2016. The pole-sitting Truex leads a record 392 of 400 laps in winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

March 12, 2017. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Truex led the most laps (150) and became the first NASCAR driver to win all three stages.

Oct. 22, 2017. Truex wins the pole and the race at Kansas Speedway, sweeping the two events at the 1.5-mile speedway closest to Colorado.

Nov. 19, 2017. Truex wins the playoff season finale at Homestead, Fla., to give FRR its first NASCAR Cup championship with a series-high eight victories.

June 24, 2018. Truex wins at the Sonoma Raceway, giving him back-to-back road-course victories dating to 2017 and sweeping the California circuit; he also won the March 18 race at Fontana, Calif.

July 14, 2018. Truex wins the pole and race at Kentucky Speedway, his second consecutive victory at the 1.5-mile oval.

Sept. 4, 2018. Sitting third in the standings and assured a place in the playoffs four the fourth consecutive year, FRR announces it will not field a car in 2019.

Playoff appearances (5)

2013: Kurt Busch

2015, 2016, 2017, 2018: Martin Truex Jr.

Furniture Row Racing’s record

A look at Furniture Row Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series record from 2005 to present.