Cole Pearn stepping away from NASCAR

Charlie Spencer said:
I didn't call JGR a piece of s#!t. I didn't say they don't win. I didn't call it a mess. Don't put words in my mouth.

It's possible for an organization to be very successful and still be an unpleasant place to work. I'm not stating JGR is, I'm asking if it could be. It could be one of many possible explanations why two critical employees at the top of their game chose to leave abruptly.

EDIT: posted before I read @Formerjackman 's post saying essentially the same thing.
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There is every reason to believe that JGR is a fabulous place to work, and very few (if any) to feel otherwise. Edwards wasn't a critical employee. They have done fine without him. He came to JGR out of desperation to win a Championship, and lost it by his own doing. Pearn didn't want to be at JGR in the first place. Anybody paying an ounce of attention knew that he hated NC. Those are anomalies. The turnover is small. The long term employees are the rule. The forced narrative here desperate for something--ANYTHING--to have on this organization is stupid. Thank you, and have a nice day.
 
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Greg said:
Does Cole even care anymore?
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i rode dirtbikes for 30+ years. Started doing suspension work/mods back in late 90's. Some of it went to California from NC so was doing OK. At some point it quit being fun. I quit. Sold all the tooling cheap to another shop that was building a track service truck. Never looked back. Don't miss it even a little. Just like ex-NFL/NBA/MLB players (NOT comparing myself) don't go to games I doubt he will race again. He done. Moving on. I wish his well. He's a Pearn Star!
 
Formerjackman said:
The 48 team had two years of severe decline WITH Chad Knaus there. The Truex/Pearn situation is a little different.
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Yea, I realize that and it's tough to tell how many titles the Truex/Pearn duo could have produced. On the flip side, I seriously doubt Johnson would have been able to amass 5 in a row had Knaus jumped ship early in that run. Just thinking out loud. Anyway, I hope the best for Martin. Some don't like him, but he's a clean driver without an attitude which makes him ok in my book.
 
Formerjackman said:
The 48 team had two years of severe decline WITH Chad Knaus there. The Truex/Pearn situation is a little different.
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Is that even fair? Chevy had a severe decline the last two years.
 
Revman said:
Is that even fair? Chevy had a severe decline the last two years.
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Chevy had a severe decline? Does that mean the no chevy ever won a race?
The top car/team in Nascar fails and you blame the car?
 
Oh, the car was a BIG part of the problem, but the 48 stopped even being the best Chevy team, or even the best Hendrick team, so you can't blame it ALL on the car.
 
Team Penske said:
Chevy had a severe decline? Does that mean the no chevy ever won a race?
The top car/team in Nascar fails and you blame the car?
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Larsonfan1995 said:
The 9, 42, 3, 88 and 1 cars have figured out how to win
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Hard for me to fathom that anyone would defend the Chevy. It has been terrible. They are producing a one year car because of it. Come on boys, you can't be serious. This absolutely factors into Jimmie's performance in addition to the package that he cannot stand. Jimmie has enough talent to easily win another one or two Championships if he chose to continue.
 
Formerjackman said:
Oh, the car was a BIG part of the problem, but the 48 stopped even being the best Chevy team, or even the best Hendrick team, so you can't blame it ALL on the car.
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Okay, I will throw in the package he hates.
 
Formerjackman said:
It certainly doesn't help the cause, but Kyle hates the package too, and it didn't stop HIM. At some point you have to adapt, improvise and overcome.
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Well, Kyle had half of the problem that Jimmie had....he had the best car. You are asking more from Jimmie than the car would allow. Think about the expense that Chevy is going to incur for a one off....that is how bad that POS was. Chevy had seven wins.....two on road courses, and two on plates. The disgruntled had blabbed on and on here about the significance of the car, and how a driver cannot overcome an inherently slow car in this day. Why we need to tear Jimmie down when the problems are pretty obvious is beyond me.
 
I'm certainly not tearing him down, I'm his biggest supporter here. I won't make hollow excuses for him though. If Jimmie was running on par or ahead of Chase on a regular basis, I would 100% agree with your assessment, but he's not. It's hard to complain about the car when you can't even hang with other drivers using the same car, especially your own teammates.
 
Formerjackman said:
I'm certainly not tearing him down, I'm his biggest supporter here. I won't make hollow excuses for him though. If Jimmie was running on par or ahead of Chase on a regular basis, I would 100% agree with your assessment, but he's not. It's hard to complain about the car when you can't even hang with other drivers using the same car, especially your own teammates.
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....but it's Chase....The Chosen....Surely you jest.
 
Working in the sport is brutal, and you have to give your whole life to racing, whether you're a driver, crew chief, pit crew member, journalist, PR rep... you name it. There's A LOT you sacrifice.

A lot of people can do that. Their while families are in the sport, they make good money, they live on Lake Norman, everything they know is here.

For others, it's not worth it. Not everyone likes living in North Carolina. Not everyone enjoys being on the road so much, or spending so much time away from family.

In short track racing where I live, just doing what I do, you have to give up every holiday except Christmas, you have to give up every single weekend from the beginning of February through early-to-mid December.

If you ever get to the point that you don't enjoy it anymore, walking away is the best thing to do.
 
I have nothing but respect for JJ but he was definitely struggling this year. Elliott and Bowman were the 2 best cars imo and then Byron and Johnson were 3rd and 4th best. If Bowman can improve a little more in 2020 I think he can give Chase a pretty good run for his money for the top spot performance wise at HMS. https://www.nascar.com/video/franchise/backseat-drivers/2019-season-recap-alex-bowman/
Now to comment on what this thread is actually about...I can understand why Cole Pearn would want to spend more time with his family while his kids are younger. They are only young for so long.
 
Revman said:
Hard for me to fathom that anyone would defend the Chevy. It has been terrible. They are producing a one year car because of it. Come on boys, you can't be serious. This absolutely factors into Jimmie's performance in addition to the package that he cannot stand. Jimmie has enough talent to easily win another one or two Championships if he chose to continue.
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I disagree for the simple reason hat once a driver entertains he thought of quitting, he has lost that little extra that made him a winner. I do agree that the change of car did have a large effect on his performance in that they took away the car that suited him best.
 
Team Penske said:
I disagree for the simple reason hat once a driver entertains he thought of quitting, he has lost that little extra that made him a winner. I do agree that the change of car did have a large effect on his performance in that they took away the car that suited him best.
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Fair enough....Explains Carl Edwards last race.
 
Formerjackman said:
The 48 team had two years of severe decline WITH Chad Knaus there. The Truex/Pearn situation is a little different.
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Those two years coincide with the introduction of the Camaro I think. That car is horrible. I am not sure why we dance around this. Jimmie is staring down the barrel of a gun with a new car this year followed, but who knows what with the Next Gen. This prospect has him yearning for dance recitals over weekends of starting over.

Pearn is a free spirit. His departure from the sport isn't a surprise really. I hope they poach Jeff Curtis from Ganassi to replace him.
 
Nitro Dude said:
.I can understand why Cole Pearn would want to spend more time with his family while his kids are younger. They are only young for so long.
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No question.....but here is where NASCAR's "money saving" narrative stops resonating with the fans.....Cole can walk away likely because he has made so much money.....This is something the average fan would like to do, but cannot because mortgages need to be paid, etc. Additionally, this doesn't resonate with the old school fan because they love the stories about how the people in this industry made peanuts and raced for passion.
 
JGR is a great company to work for. If you surveyed their employees, 99% of the people would probably say as much. JGR is also a horrible company to work with. If you surveyed the people who do business with JGR, 99% would probably say as much. (Well, at least behind closed doors ;).)
 
Revman said:
Those two years coincide with the introduction of the Camaro I think. That car is horrible. I am not sure why we dance around this. Jimmie is staring down the barrel of a gun with a new car this year followed, but who knows what with the Next Gen. This prospect has him yearning for dance recitals over weekends of starting over.

Pearn is a free spirit. His departure from the sport isn't a surprise really. I hope they poach Jeff Curtis from Ganassi to replace him.
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He wouldn't even interview there last season, so I can't imagine JGR would want to offer him the amount of cash it would take for him to even consider it. Especially since he's happy at CGR. But you never know, things always seem to change, including people's opinions.
 
Allenbaba said:
JGR is a great company to work for. If you surveyed their employees, 99% of the people would probably say as much. JGR is also a horrible company to work with. If you surveyed the people who do business with JGR, 99% would probably say as much. (Well, at least behind closed doors ;).)
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Do you have any thoughts on the idea that Pearn MIGHT have been a square peg in a round hole at JGR? By that, I mean that there may not be a problem with either, but perhaps JGR just didn't suit him?
 
Formerjackman said:
Do you have any thoughts on the idea that Pearn MIGHT have been a square peg in a round hole at JGR? By that, I mean that there may not be a problem with either, but perhaps JGR just didn't suit him?
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I definitely don't think JGR suited him one bit, but to be fair to JGR, I don't think any big team in NC would have suited him. He's an independent thinker who doesn't like, for lack of a better description, office politics & process (which you'll find that at all multi-car teams). He's also a mountains and snow guy with regards to lifestyle (his family as well). FRR was literally his dream job, and because of that, I'm not sure he'll ever find joy in the Cup Series again. He was spoiled there.

The Pearn family also live a very modest lifestyle. He's never been driven by money (he turned down much more lucrative offers than JGR's). From what I know about him personally, and what I know about his salaries, he's probably set for life financially.
 
Thanks for you insight Allenbaba. I guess the question I have is why he made the move in the first place? Given his desires, it seems like the end of FRR would have been the time to walk away.
 
Formerjackman said:
Thanks for you insight Allenbaba. I guess the question I have is why he made the move in the first place? Given his desires, it seems like the end of FRR would have been the time to walk away.
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by the same token, ya can't think beyond your experience. That is what my family did when getting transferred to another part of the country. We'll try it and see if we like it.
 
StandOnIt said:
by the same token, ya can't think beyond your experience. That is what my family did when getting transferred to another part of the country. We'll try it and see if we like it.
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Agree with this. Sometimes it takes trying something you don't like doing to truly appreciate the things you did value. I do also think he felt an obligation and responsibility to those who did move over to JGR, including MTJ, to make sure it was a team/package deal and dynamic. It would be pretty interesting to see what would have happened if Cole had announced his retirement at the same time Barney announced he was closing the team. I'm not saying MTJ wouldn't have still been hired for the 19 (he did come with a good bit of $$), but it would have been a much different conversation. It certainly wouldn't have been a slam dunk.
 
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