Martin Truex Jr. back on NASCAR track after rough ride in '13

Martin Truex Jr. started this season engulfed in flames and spraying sod. And somehow, it was better than how last season ended.

Last year, Truex got caught up in one of those once-a-decade or so NASCAR controversies. He was expelled from the playoffs after two other drivers, unknown to Truex, conspired to help him earn a Chase spot.

This year, Truex is driving in calmer circumstances like when his car caught on fire on the final turn Thursday at a Daytona 500 qualifier, forcing him to carve up grass in the infield and cross the finish line in flames. Truex, who had already qualified for a front-row spot for Sunday's 500, instead will be booted to the back of the pack. After what happened last year, it's a step in the right direction.

A second-generation race car driver, Truex will pilot his first race Sunday with Denver's Furniture Row Racing team in the No. 78 car abandoned by Kurt Busch. For Truex, his new chance with a new team is not about getting revenge on the string-pullers who kicked him out of the Chase. It's about getting back to his roots running on what he calls "a ragged edge."

"I raced my butt off because I loved it," said Truex, who started behind the wheel when he was 12. Like his father, he became a well-known driver on the Busch North Series regional circuit.

"I loved going to the track on a Saturday night and maybe getting beat and saying, 'Man, you better get back to work.' Then maybe turning the tables and coming back the next week to whip their (butts). That's what I loved."

It's now 10 years after Furniture Row owner Barney Visser made his NASCAR debut with the No. 78, with Jerry Robertson driving in the second-tier Busch Series. But despite making it to the 13-team Chase playoffs last season with Kurt Busch, FRR still gets a thumbed nose in its direction by the other big-money teams in NASCAR. In the racing world, you don't read a reference to Furniture Row without the qualifier "single-car team" and "only Sprint Cup team outside the Carolinas."

Martin Truex Jr. takes the wheel of Furniture Row's No. 78 Chevrolet this season. (John Raoux, The Associated Press)

But that's what drew Truex to Denver. And it may be that the 78 on a technical alliance with big-team Richard Childress Racing and with a Chase-level driver is near the point of morphing from "those other guys" to a serious, consistent contender.

"Back in the old days, you kinda flew by the seat of your pants," Truex said. "It's fun to be a part of that again. Because it's like it used to be."

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Martin Truex Jr. back on NASCAR track after rough ride in '13