Martin Truex Jr. was placing up a struggle to attempt to advance within the NASCAR Cup Collection playoffs till he made one mistake Saturday night time at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Truex was known as for dashing on pit street underneath a lap 329 warning and despatched to the rear of the sector. The penalty ended his race and his hopes of advancing. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who had a top-10 automobile earlier than the penalty, was unable to maneuver via the sector and missed advancing by a last margin of 21 factors.
“You by no means know; I used to be simply attempting to do the identical factor each time and I suppose it was .09 miles per hour,” Truex stated. “So, simply actually annoyed, upset. I hate it for my guys, they work so exhausting, and we had a shot at it tonight. It wasn’t going to be straightforward; there’s no assure. I believe they stated we needed to run second or third to make it via, so it was going to be powerful. I don’t know if we have been fairly ok however it might have been good to search out out at the least. I simply hate that I screwed it up for everyone.”
The penalty, Truex believes, occurred when he didn’t get slowed down whereas coming across the nook in Flip 4 to the frontstretch pit street. He conceded he should have pushed too exhausting.
“It’s monitor place right here and when you get again there within the pack, it burns your tires off actually fast,” Truex stated. “I simply couldn’t rise up there after which my tires went away actually quick and the leaders in clear air caught me actually fast and there’s nothing you are able to do. It’s the way in which this racing is. You need to preserve monitor place and I misplaced all of ours after I sped.”
Truex certified fourth and completed fourth within the first stage, second within the second stage, then had come off pit street in second place when the penalty occurred. He’d entered the weekend seeking to erase a 14-point deficit on the playoff grid to proceed competing for a second Cup Collection championship.
The main target, as an alternative, now turns into attempting to win one final race earlier than his full-time profession ends.
“I’ve been getting used to swallowing disappointment these days, so I don’t know, it sucks,” Truex stated. “We’ve bought seven extra races to attempt to exit on some excessive notes with this group and hopefully win a race. That’d be superior. That’s going to be our focus from right here on out.”
