Martin Truex Jr. admits his crew chief’s wrong pit call ‘killed them in Stage Two’
Martin Truex Jr. scored his best finish of the post-season on Sunday.
Follow Us
Martin Truex Jr. (Via IMAGO)
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. scored his first top-10 finish of the 2023 Cup playoff on Sunday in Las Vegas. But the race could’ve yielded them more than just the P9 finish if not for a pit call late in stage one. If not for the determination and the Toyota Camry’s pace advantage on the track on the final stage, he could’ve finished outside the top 15 just like he did in the last six races.
The 2017 Cup champion was the only driver to stay out during the end of stage one; he secured the lead on the restart on lap 87. He could keep the lead for more than five laps as the old tires couldn’t keep him up front, and he dropped all the way down to P20 when a caution was put out on lap 117.
Truex Jr. pointed out while evaluating the race that it was an uphill battle throughout, and the killer pit call was a big factor in it. He said, as reported by RACER, “It was an uphill battle, but luckily at the end, we were able to have a couple of better restarts and at least maintain, and then work our way forward from there. All-in-all, it was OK. The pit call obviously killed us in Stage 2.”
The veteran driver later pin-pointed the car being terrible in dirty air as another issue he faced the whole day. It was an issue he struggled with during the qualifiers, where he finished P4. He is unsure about what is the actual reason for the dirty air issue as they used the same car set-up for the regular season race earlier this year and didn’t encounter it.
Martin Truex Jr. explains why he listened to his crew chief despite knowing the call was wrong
James Small asked the No:19 driver to stay out very late when every other team called their drivers in. Truex Jr. didn’t want to stay out; instead wanted to pit, but he decided to listen to his crew chief and stay out. He followed the instructions because the crew had better data and more information about the race than him.
“He told me that pretty late around the corner in (Turns) 3 and 4, and my gut reaction was, ‘Don’t do it; don’t stay out. I like to listen to my crew chief and do whatever they say no matter what because they know more about what’s going on than you do, and usually, the driver’s 90 percent of the time wrong if they make their own decision or go against the crew chief,” Truex Jr. said.
While the pit-call cost them a better finish, it isn’t all negative for the team. It was the best weekend they have had this playoffs. The No:19 team, to a certain limit, has gotten their momentum and mojo back. Now it’s up to them to better their finishes in the coming weeks at Miami and Martinsville to progress to the final four.
In case you missed it:
Stay Updated!
Justin P Joy
(5014 Articles Published)