Martin Truex Jr. admits ‘it stinks’ to lose at Michigan after having a rocket

The 2017 NASCAR Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. and Cup races on Monday are a match made in heaven as he is the king of post-pone races in the sport’s history. It was no different this Monday at Michigan as the No:19 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave him a “rocket” Toyota Camry with which he got past the field the whole day, but the race winner Chris Buescher kept him at bay on the final laps.

The TRD cars were the fastest this weekend, with Truex Jr.’s being the fastest. He won the first and second stage wins with ease. His second stage win over Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, despite pitting a few laps earlier, was a testament to the car he got on his hand. After the race, he even said that he feels like the team is now giving him cars capable of winning every week.

So, losing the race stinks for him as they got the strategy and pace right throughout the event. The fact that he has experienced similar disappointments in fast cars on the same track multiple times hurt more for him. But he isn’t discouraged as he said that he might be finally able to get the elusive win next season. Truex Jr. signed a one-year deal ahead of the race to drive for Joe Gibbs one more year.

“It would have been nice to get a win today, but all in all, it was a good day. Strategy kind of shook us up a little bit. We were luckily able to get our track position back all day just because of our speed. Man, that one more stinks. Tough to get a win here. We’ve been really good in the past. Just can’t get it done. Hopefully, I don’t know, maybe next year,” he said after the race while talking about the playoffs

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Martin Trues Jr. claims it was too hard to pass the leader with the dirty air

The veteran was quick to pinpoint the clean air advantage his RFK Racing teammate had in the final laps as the reason for him not getting the win. He also added that he had the better car, with the TRD rocket, but didn’t have enough time to wear the tires that would have helped him to get the win over the No:17 Ford.

“No, not really. I think we needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more. We were a little better. It’s hard to pass the leader on equal tires. We had an unbelievable car today. Hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things. It was a rocket. The leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough. All in all, a good day,” Truex Jr. said.

While P2 might be slightly disappointing for him, it did end on a high note as he has extended the championship lead over teammate Denny Hamlin. With William Byron out of the way, the fight for the regular season title will be between the two Toyota veterans.

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