As crew chief for Furniture Row Racing, Jay Guy has no easy task. One of the only teams located outside of North Carolina, Guy and the Furniture Row team call Denver, Colorado home. Working on a single car team located more than 1500 miles from the heart of Race Country USA is nothing easy, but for someone like Jay Guy it's all about the challenge.

The Lancaster, Pennsylvania native became interested in NASCAR through his father. Going to races at Dover and Pocono, Guy caught the bug for the sport that would make him a career.

On a trip to Dover when he was around seven years old, Guy met a driver by the name of Dave Marcis - and the rest, they say, is history. Staying in a hotel across from Marcis and his crew, Guy introduced himself to the veteran driver and began following his team.

"Dave Marcis became like a mentor, father-like figure to me as far as racing goes," Guy told HardcoreRaceFans.com. "I went to work for him in 1990 full time, but worked part time for him before then."

Taking lessons learned from one of the most independent and hard-working men in the sport, Guy moved on to Richard Jackson's operation, spending a few years there working in the engine shop.

Over the years Jay Guy has worked with some of the best in the business. The list of drivers he has worked with in the past reads like a who's who in the sport and include the likes of; Dave Marcis, Rick Mast, Harry Gant, Robert Pressley, Bobby Hamilton, Ted Musgrave, Hermie and Elliott Sadler, David Green, Johnny Benson, Stacey Compton, Jon Wood, Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek.

Of all the drivers he has worked with in the past, one driver - besides Marcis - tends to stand out. The relationship between Guy and Johnny Benson developed into a friendship that continues still today.

"Johnny Benson and I seemed to hit it off and worked pretty well," the veteran crew chief explained. "We're still friends to this day. We had a pretty unique situation back in 2003, he was getting fired at the end of the year from MB2 and I was moving on as well. We just went out and raced and had fun and we ran pretty well. We finished out the year with a fourth place run in Homestead and kind of hit it off and had fun racing."

Hoping to get back to successful racing and having fun, Furniture Row Racing announced at the end of the season they would only be running twelve of the thirty-six Cup events in 2009. The team plans to run the four speedways, both road courses, both Dover races, one Richmond race and the race in Las Vegas. With limited resources and logistic concerns, by cutting back their schedule they hope to show up as a contender each time they head to the track.

"That's what we're aiming for," Guy said of the limited schedule. "We want to be able to test a lot. There's a lot of stuff out here in the Denver area, there's a new road course out here, and we've got Pikes Peak. There are a lot of things we can do that are on this side of the world that will make us better prepared because we're not running thirty-eight weeks a year. We've got plenty of guys, plenty of engineering and we hope that when we come we're going back to the old days of when Kyle Petty would show up only run only fifteen races a year, contend for wins and finish in the top-15. That's what we're looking at."

Despite being located more than 1,500 miles from the majority of teams, Furniture Row Racing is a top-notch team with a top-notch facility. Owner Barney Vissar has built a state of the art 35,000 square-foot facility, complete with a seven post shaker rig.

"A lot of people just think we're a small race team working out of somebody's garage," Guy explained. "That's the perception we face. A lot of people come out here and are amazed at the stuff we have. We have a seven-post out here, we have a pull down place and I'm in the middle of a shop right now looking at 20-24 race cars. We have a good bunch of guys out here and basically all it is is transportation."

This team is not without success either. Although they failed to qualify for five events in 2008, the team recorded one pole position and scored a season-best finish of 11th at Talladega in October.

"We're probably the only team outside North Carolina to sit on a pole last year," Guy proudly stated. Nemechek earned the Coors Light Pole Award in Talladega this April. "That's something that we're pretty proud of and something we worked hard on. We sat on the pole with a small team with only about thirty guys and we're proud to do that."

With engines shipped to them by Hendrick Motorsports every week, the main problem for this team is travel. Transporting a race team is no easy task, but for a single-car team with limited resources the task is that much harder. Despite those set-backs, Guy feels the team is healthy and is looking forward to the 2009 season. "We have all the same technology," Guy added. "It's just our third year racing and we're having some growing pains."

Although NASCAR announced there would be a ban on testing for all teams at any sanctioned track in 2009, Furniture Row is determined to test as much as they can, wherever they can. Over the past few weeks, the team has tested in Nashville with one group and out at the GM proving grounds in Phoenix, Arizona with another. With NASCAR sanctioned tracks out of the picture in just a few weeks, the team has scheduled an aero test and a wind tunnel test for January. Utilizing their location, the team also plans on using Pike Peak to test for Phoenix and Richmond and is looking at the old Texas World Speedway as another possible test location.

While they only plan to run twelve Sprint Cup Series events in 2009, the team is in the process of building seven brand new cars.

Another task the team faces this off-season is going through the process of finding a new driver for the No. 78 Chevrolet. Joe Nemechek was released after Homestead and although they have had a number of tests, Guy declined to comment on who was behind the wheel during those tests.

According to Guy, the team has interviewed five or six drivers over the past few weeks and hopes to have something to announce by the end of this week. "We're just trying to pick the right guy, someone that will mesh with our schedule and that will mesh with the rest of the team."

With the tough economic conditions hitting every team throughout the garage, Furniture Row is no exception. One of the first to cut back on employees, team owner Barney Vissar knew he had to prepare for the tough times to come. By cutting some part-time positions and deciding to run a limited schedule, Vissar ensured his team would remain in business.

"The week of Homestead, our owner, Barney Vissar, realized the economy is where it is and being proactive said 'look guys we're only running twelve races next year once we get some more funding from outside, or the furniture business picks up.' It's unfortunate, but we let go about 20-25 people," Guy explained. "That's part-time people including pit crew and some shop guys. Since we're only running twelve races next year we don't need as many guys. It has affected us out here, but at the same time we were proactive in it. We"re not going anywhere, it was just a safeguard to make sure we'll keep racing next year and beyond."

Do not expect this team to go anywhere anytime soon. By taking a step back and committing to run only twelve races next season the focus will be solely on those twelve events. With Jay Guy calling the shots as crew chief, the team has a veteran on their side. Guy brings both expertise and confidence to the team and that should pay off with solid finishes and maybe even a few surprises.