Few drivers had been extra relieved to clinch a spot within the NASCAR Cup Collection playoffs than Martin Truex Jr., after considering he made the largest mistake of his profession on the Southern 500.
Truex crashed on lap three of Sunday night time’s race when he obtained free in Turns 1 and a pair of and got here up the observe into the trail of Ryan Blaney. The collision broken his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota past restore, and Truex left the regular-season finale having earned only one level with a Thirty sixth-place end. He entered the weekend with out securing a spot the postseason, as he was 58 factors above the cutline.
“It was fairly wild, truthfully,” Truex mentioned of the feelings after the crash. “I needed to go away Darlington, dig a gap and crawl into it for a few days. It was a horrible feeling. I felt prefer it was most likely the largest mistake I had made in my complete racing profession, and that’s fairly unhealthy, particularly given what the day was and what was on the road.
“Clearly, I’m glad we made it, and we’ve obtained loads of work to do. So, I’m able to get after it.”
It took till the tip of the second stage for Truex to punch his ticket to the postseason and it got here by the assistance of Chris Buescher, who was additionally making an attempt to make the postseason on factors. Buescher didn’t earn sufficient factors by the primary two phases to push Truex additional into the hazard zone. Truex made the postseason by six factors.
The 2017 Cup Collection champion admitted he couldn’t bear to remain for the rest of the Southern 500 and watch how it might unfold. He obtained a textual content confirming he’d made the postseason after the hour-and-a-half flight again house.
“I did go away; I couldn’t sit there anymore,” Truex mentioned. “I took a bathe, calmed down, watched for about 10 minutes and was like, ‘I can’t sit right here.’ So, I obtained out of there, after which as quickly as I landed, I came upon. It was good to get out of there and take a look at to consider one thing else.”
Truex enters his last postseason with one final likelihood at a second Cup Collection championship, however he’ll need to do it from the No. 15 seed with 4 playoff factors.
“That’s all I may consider [Sunday night], was it ruined our complete season, and the following 10 weeks are going to suck,” Truex mentioned. “Now now we have an opportunity for the following 10 to not suck. It’s going to be enjoyable.”
