Truex gained the common season championship and entered the postseason as an actual favourite for the championship. Nevertheless, nearly every thing that would go improper has gone improper for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Finishes of 18th, thirty sixth, and nineteenth within the opening spherical practically noticed him among the many first 4 eradicated. Nevertheless, the bonus factors he had obtained in the course of the first 26 races saved his title hopes.
The second spherical wasn’t significantly better with finishes of seventeenth, 18th, and twentieth. He was the final driver to switch out of the Spherical of 12.
That brings us to the Spherical of 8, which Truex opened with a ninth-place end at Vegas. It was his first top-ten since August, however it too was a race crammed with frustration after an early name to remain out set him on an alternate technique that value him a number of monitor place.
The misfortune continued at Homestead, trapped deep within the pack resulting from an premature warning after which struggling an engine failure. He enters Martinsville 17pts under the cut-line, dealing with a tough uphill climb.
Picture by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Photos
Martin Truex Jr, Joe Gibbs Racing, Auto-Homeowners Insurance coverage Toyota Camry
“It’s been actually robust, and nothing has actually gone proper,” stated Truex throughout media availability on the monitor. “I assumed we have been sitting in a extremely good place final week. Issues have been going fairly effectively, after which we pit and the underside falls out. Lose two laps, we get them again, get again on the lead lap after which the issues blows up. It’s been an uphill battle. We actually haven’t had a lot to be enthusiastic about aside from the blokes making ready quick automobiles to deliver to the monitor the previous few weeks. We’ll reset. We’re able to go once more. This can be a new week and a brand new alternative, and we’ve been on this place earlier than. Let’s simply go see what we will do tomorrow.”
Pitroad has been a continuing difficulty for the No. 19 staff, however they’ve additionally confronted loads of unhealthy luck past that. JGR made the choice to exchange each the jackman and rear tire changer for the ultimate two races of the 12 months. Truex is hopeful that the change could have a optimistic affect on the staff.
“I wasn’t actually that concerned aside from realizing our pit stops have been fairly unhealthy right here these days,” stated Truex. “I be ok with it. They stated observe went good this week, and each is fairly fired up about that and they’re feeling good, so we are going to see tomorrow the way it performs out.”
Truex talked concerning the significance of qualifying at a short-track like Martinsville, saying: “It’s essential. All the brief tracks, qualifying has been enormous from beginning up entrance and having pit stall. You want each of these right here to achieve success. Observe place goes to be every thing.”
The 2017 NASCAR Cup champion was quick in observe, and went on to take pole place for the 500-lap race. It is precisely what he wanted to do. His team-mate Denny Hamlin was quick as effectively, and each drivers are dealing with the identical state of affairs this weekend. Regardless of that, Truex would not imagine it modifications the dynamic in any respect between the JGR drivers.
“Nothing actually modifications,” stated Truex. “We race similar to we do each different week. We’ll go along with what obtained us right here. Being within the Playoffs as team-mates for thus a few years, we have now that have, and we all know what obtained us right here and issues that make us robust as a bunch. Then you definitely go on Sunday and race. You don’t disguise issues, you don’t attempt to do something totally different. At the very least that has been my expertise prior to now on how we’ve dealt with it, and to date, nothing that I’ve seen has been totally different.”
