“Hoped we would get to the white, and maybe they would crash,” Martin Truex Jr. reveals why he took the pit stop gamble in Las Vegas
Martin Truex Jr. has not scored a Cup race win since his 2021 Richmond playoff race win.
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Martin Truex Jr. (Credits: @JGR/Twitter)
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Martin Truex Jr. took a gamble in Las Vegas, which didn’t pay off. The No:19 team decided to stay out of the pits during the final caution of Penzoli 400. The gamble, though, didn’t pay off, as the veteran was able to secure just a P7 finish while starting the final restart on the front row alongside William Byron, who topped teammate Larson in the pits.
The JGR veteran inherited the lead from Larson for the restart and chose to start at the bottom lane for the final restart. He could hold on to the lead till the white flag, but Byron was too dominant for him to hold off. Things got worse after he got tight in the final lap and got freight-trained down the backstretch.
“We just hoped we would get to the white (flag), and maybe they would crash. We did OK the first lap. We held second there for almost a whole lap and got into (Turn) 1 in second after the white, so we were in pretty good shape there, but I got real tight in (Turns) 1 and 2 and got freight-trained down the backstretch,” Martin Truex Jr. said about the decision to stay out.
“But all in all, it was a good gamble and a strong day by our Bass Pro Camry and all of our guys. At the end, we just took a gamble. We were going to run probably at best third or fourth and threw a Hail Mary and finished seventh, so not really a big deal there,” Martin Truex Jr. added.
Martin Truex Jr. is not disappointed by the final finish
The 2017 Cup champion believes that he had a solid day at Vegas. he said, “It was a solid day for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD, and everybody did a good job. We could never quite get it where we need it. I think we were about a third-place car, maybe fourth. Just a good, solid day,”.
He added that he is proud of his crew chief for taking the gamble, unlike in 2022, where they went for the more risk-averse path that did pay off well in the end. He said, “We’re in Vegas, we might as well roll the dice and like everybody says. We come here to gamble. I was proud of James for that. Last year we didn’t and it bit us. We gave up a few spots (today), but all in all, it was a solid day,”.
Though the start of the season isn’t really special compared to the final result of the 2022 season, Truex Jr. is having a solid time. The team has gained confidence after the LA Clash win. Their winless run in 0222 was a major disappointment.
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