Cole R. Pearn (born October 13, 1982) is a Canadian

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

crew chief and former

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

driver. He competed in

CASCAR The Canadian Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (CASCAR) was an auto racing sanctioning body for amateur and professional stock car racing in Canada. The company was founded in 1981 and was headquartered in Delaware, Ontario. In 2006, NASCA ...

(now

NASCAR Canada Series The NASCAR Canada Series (NCS, ) is a national NASCAR racing series in Canada, and is a continuation of the old CASCAR Super Series which was founded in 1981. It is the top NASCAR touring series in Canada. History In September 2006 NASCAR purchas ...

) for three seasons from 2001 to 2003. He also was a 3 time Canadian Go-Kart Champion, Delaware Speedway Track Champion and winner of the Great Canadian 300 in 2006. He is currently serving as the crew chief for

Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Camry XSE for Tricon Garage. He is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series ...

's No. 56

Tricon Garage Tricon Garage, formerly known as David Gilliland Racing, DGR-Crosley, and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in early 2017 ...

team in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

. Pearn led Truex to the Cup championship in 2017. Pearn was considered NASCAR's best active crew chief during his career, having turned

Furniture Row Racing Furniture Row Racing (FRR) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2018. The team was owned and sponsored by Furniture Row, a U.S. furniture store chain, and was based in Furniture R ...

from a backmarker to a championship contender. Pearn was the crew chief responsible for 17 of the team's 18 race wins.

Career

Pearn, a three-time national

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

champion in Canada, competed in

late model Late Model stock car racing, also known as late model racing and late models, refers to a type of auto racing that involves purpose-built cars simultaneously racing against each other primarily on oval tracks. This type of racing was early-on ...

s. In 2000, Pearn debuted in the

CASCAR Super Series The CASCAR Super Series was Canada's premier stock car touring division. It was sanctioned by CASCAR. The series ended after the 2006 season after NASCAR purchased CASCAR, and NASCAR used it as the basis for the NASCAR Pinty's Series. General T ...

Delaware Speedway Delaware Speedway is a paved race track that is one of the oldest continuously operating tracks in Canada. It is located a few minutes west of London, Ontario northeast of Delaware, Ontario. It hosts stock car racing every Friday night during ...

, finishing 18th. Pearn competed full-time in 2002 and 2003, driving the No. 24

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

and recording a best finish of sixth twice: in 2002 at Delaware and 2003 at Race City Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing: 2007

After graduating from college, Pearn worked for

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

, and later moved to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He joined

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard C ...

in 2007, working with

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...

's No. 29 crew as an engineer.

Multiple teams: 2010-2018

In 2010, he joined

as a team engineer, though he left for

JTG Daugherty Racing Hyak Motorsports is an American stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team fields the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 full-time for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and has a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports. History The ...

in 2011. Pearn returned to FRR during the 2012 season, becoming the team's lead race engineer. On December 3, 2014, Pearn was promoted to crew chief of the No. 78, replacing

Todd Berrier Todd Berrier (born May 29, 1970) is an American former crew chief for Furniture Row Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Previously, he was a crew chief at Richard Childress Racing, most notably with Kevin Harvick. He joined RCR in 1997 as cre ...

, who had departed the team to join

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

, and Pearn became the first regular Canadian crew chief in Cup Series history. In 2015, Pearn and driver

won the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly known as the Pocono International Raceway in early years) is a tri-oval track in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1969, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and IMSA GT ...

, and Pearn became the first Canadian crew chief to win a Cup race. In 2016, Pearn was suspended for the

Kobalt 400 The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held annually at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the first of two races at Las Vegas with the other one being the South Point 40 ...

after failing technical inspection at the

Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 The Ambetter Health 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Christopher Bell (racing driver), Christopher Bell is the defending race winner. This race was originally Atlanta ...

; the team had also been penalized at the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

the week before for roof flap problems. During the 2017 season, Pearn and Truex won eight races en route to the series championship. The following year, Pearn and Truex won 4 races during the year at Fontana, Pocono, Sonoma, and Kentucky. Rumors throughout the year swirled the Furniture Row team after sponsor 5 hour Energy left the team and eventually the team announced they were shutting down. Truex and Pearn made it to the final four again in 2018 and finished 2nd in the final standings.

Joe Gibbs Racing: 2019

In 2019, Pearn and Truex moved to Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 19 team following Furniture Row Racing's shutdown after the 2018 season. On December 9, 2019 Pearn announced that he had parted ways with JGR to pursue opportunities outside of NASCAR. He remained involved in the sport as an analyst for NASCAR.com.

Tricon Garage: 2025

On January 16, 2025, it was announced that Pearn would move over to

to crew chief the No. 56 for

in the

2025 Daytona 500 The 2025 Daytona 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race and the 67th running of the Daytona 500, event, held on Sunday, February 16, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was the first race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series ...

IndyCar

In August 2020, Pearn joined

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

team

Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter Racing, competing as "ECR", is an American racing team based in Speedway, Indiana that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team is owned by driver Ed Carpenter (racing driver), Ed Carpenter. The team is based in Indianapol ...

as the lead engineer for

Conor Daly Conor James Daly (born December 15, 1991) is an American professional auto racing, racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series driving the No. 76 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing. He also competes occasionally in NASCAR and has also rac ...

in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

Personal life

Pearn's father Ron was a stock car driver at Checker Flag Raceway in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

. In 2006, he graduated from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

with a mechanical engineering degree. Pearn is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

fan and a supporter of the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

; he also plays

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in a Golden-based rec league. After leaving the crew chief ranks, Pearn moved to

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He and his wife Carrie operate the lodging chain Golden Alpine Holidays.

Motorsports career results

CASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

CASCAR Super Series

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearn, Cole 1982 births Living people People from Strathroy-Caradoc NASCAR crew chiefs NASCAR drivers University of Waterloo alumni