Martin Truex Jr. highlights ‘absolutely horrendous’ pit-stop as major factor for poor Texas playoff race
Martin Truex Jr. hasn’t secured a single top-15 finish since the start of the playoffs.
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Martin Truex Jr. (Via IMAGO)
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. had another disappointing playoff outing at Texas Motor Speedway that saw him finish at P17. The regular season champion hasn’t scored a top-10 finish in the first four races of the playoff and has the worst momentum going into the remaining post-season race.
While talking about his poor result, which was caused by an early spin following contact with Erik Jones and some pit-stop mishaps, Martin Truex Jr. didn’t mince his words. He pointed out that the No:19 Toyota Camry was a top-10-worthy car until the stage one spin. Being forced to drive flat tires damaged the car’s underbody and slowed him down.
“Yeah, I mean, so far, nothing’s went right at all. Today, we just didn’t really run good. I thought we were a top-10 car early, and then once we got spun out there and had to drive around on the flat tires, I think messed something up underneath,” Truex Jr. said, as reported by Yardbreaker.
He highlighted that the car got tight once he returned to racing after the spin. The No:19 added that their pit stops were absolutely horrendous and admitted that everything went south for the team. He pointed out that other than surviving the race without wrecking, there is nothing to take as a positive going into the next race.
“Definitely was way tighter after that, and lost our track position, and it just piles on when you get back there. On top of that, our pit stops were absolutely horrendous. Just nothing really good today at all to speak of other than not getting wrecked. Long, terrible day, we need to fix it,” the JGR driver added.
In case you missed it: Kyle Larson bemoans BUMMER Texas result, admits he is now hoping for a ‘decent fortune’ at Talladega to survive R-12
Martin Truex Jr. might lose all the advantage from his Regular Season title win if he can’t win a race in R-12
The 2017 Cup champion’s poor streak in the post-season has cost him a significant advantage from the 15-bonus playoff points he got by leading the regular season championship win. He barely made it out of the R-16, as his playoff advantage was enough for him
The No:19 team’s finishes in the R-16 were P18, P36 and P19 respectively. The gravity of how bad his situation is can be seen in his performance compared to his JGR teammates. His teammates consistently ran in the top 10 and were contenders in each race. Denny Hamlin secured a win at Bristol. Now, with the P17 at Texas, he lost out on at least 20 points.
If the same streak of finishes outside the top 15 continues, he probably won’t make it out of this round. All 11 of his current playoff rivals have had at least two races in the last four events, compared to his consistent inconsistency. But Truex Jr. is one of the all-time greats of the sport, and one good race is enough for him to make a comeback.
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Justin P Joy
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