“It sucks. No way of sugar-coating it,” Martin Truex Jr. on missing out of the 2022 playoffs
Follow Us
Martin Truex Jr.
Austin Dillon’s incredible win over the rest of the field with the help of teammate Tyler Reddick wasn’t the only major highlight of the regular season final e at Daytona, as the race also witnessed one of the last decades’ great Martin Truex Jr. missing out on playoff spot for JGR. The Toyota driver was out arced by Ryan Blaney towards the end of the race for the playoffs.
Going into the regular season finale at Daytona, the only remaining winless drivers in the top 10 of the championship table, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. had to either outrace each other or have no new winner in the race to get to playoffs. But things didn’t go as planned for both, as the duo had an on-track and emotional roller coaster ride.
With Austin Dillon going for the win towards the end and Ryan Blaney playing catch behind the pack, the JGR veteran only had to secure a top 5 finish, but he failed to do so even after starting in front on the final restart. Truex Jr. was only able to finish P8 after losing positions to brilliant draft racing from the front pack, while Blaney finished P15, which was just enough for the three-point lead for the Penske Racing driver.
Find out what Martin Truex Jr. had to say about the disappointing finish to his 2022 regular season
Martin Truex Jr. acknowledged that they really did a great job on Sunday to make it up to 22 points which unfortunately wasn’t enough. He pointed out that though he had the right pace, he was caught up in the wrong [lace at the wrong time, which he believed could be the excuse for the underperformance of nearly 30 cars on the track.
“We really did a good job, I think, to make up 22 points in one race [which] is a big gain. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough today. The Bass Pro Shops Toyota was really fast; we ran, I thought, a really smart race and just wrong place, wrong time, which 30 cars out here today could say that,” Martin Truex Jr. said.
He added that it’s just frustrating for him to see such a finish. He pointed out that it’s sad that his good finish surviving the early race crash didn’t matter, saying, “It’s just frustrating here. We run well, and then we get wrecked. At the end of the day, we still had a somewhat decent finish, but it really doesn’t matter,”.
Martin Truex Jr. went on to say that it sucks, and he had no way of sugarcoating the result as he came just three points short after racing his guts out throughout the season. He added that it’s a pretty rough pill to swallow for him as he had the opportunity to do something I n the playoffs.
“It sucks. No way of sugar-coating it. You race your [butt] off all year and work hard, and you try to do all the things it takes, and you come up three points short. It’s pretty tough to swallow when I know we could do something in the playoffs,” says Martin Truex Jr.
Do you think Martin Truex Jr. will make a comeback to the top in 2022?
Stay Updated!
Justin P Joy
(4913 Articles Published)