Furniture Row Racing has informed NASCAR that it has withdrawn its appeal of penalties that were handed down last week following rule violations at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Cole Pearn, Sprint Cup Series crew chief on Martin Truex Junior’s Number 78 Toyota, was suspended for one race and fined fifty thousand dollars. The team was docked fifteen championship owner and driver points. Pearn will serve his suspension during this coming weekend’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, where Todd Berrier will fill the role of crew chief in his absence.
Truex – who qualified for The Championship 4 in last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup –is ninth in the early-season standings, thirteen points outside the top five and trailing leader Kyle Busch by twenty-five points. His best finish in three starts thus far is second (behind Denny Hamlin) in the season-opening Daytona 500.