HOMESTEAD, Fla. – When push comes to shove in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. said he is prepared to use his “free pass” on Joey Logano should the situation arise in the war for the 2018 title.
In an effort to send his No. 22 Team Penske Ford into the Championship 4 fight at Homestead, Logano used his bumper on Truex’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, a decision that ultimately led to saucy words from Truex vowing Logano may have won the battle but will not win the war.
And during Thursday afternoon’s Championship 4 Media Day at The Edition at Miami Beach, Truex said that he will race Logano differently in his bid for back-to-back Cup titles because of Logano’s approach to boot Truex out of his fifth win of the year in the First Data 500.
“Absolutely,” said Truex of racing Logano different than any competitor including his other Championship 4 rivals Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
“I have a free pass. He already told me I could. He told me he’s fair game. So here we go.”
Logano, however, said he didn’t tell Truex it was a “free pass”
“I didn’t tell him that,” Logano rebutted. “I said, Hey, I expect to get raced the way I race people. I’m a hard racer. I expect to get raced hard. I said it before, we didn’t crash each other. I didn’t crash him. Moved him up enough to have a drag race. That’s what I explained to him.
“Just so much on the line in these situations. If you don’t make a move like that, you’re going to go back to your race team. I know if I worked on that car, I’d be mad. I’d say, Why didn’t you at least try to win?
“I wasn’t going to crash him. That’s completely different than what happened a couple years ago. I wasn’t looking to do that. I was just looking to move him up the racetrack, then have that race to the start/finish line, which we did. We had that.”
Nonetheless, Truex insisted he isn’t thinking of revenge on Logano from Martinsville, he’s instead focused on going out there and winning the championship much like he did last year with a fast race car and zero mistakes.
“If we can do exactly what we did last year, that would be fine,” added Truex. “Yeah, I don’t know. It depends that’s the thing about racing. It’s always changing. It’s constantly changing. Moving target. You know, I don’t know how those other three guys are going to be.
“If they’re off a little bit, then maybe we could be off a little bit and still win it. You don’t come down here and feel like that’s going to happen. You feel like it’s going to be one of those four guys, which we’ve seen every single year. One of those four guys is going to hit it. You just got to hope you’re the one.
“I know the guys have been working hard. They’re confident. Talking to Cole (Pearn crew chief) this week, he feels really good about it. So that gives me confidence. Usually, if they’re pretty confident in what they’re doing, then it translates to results. So we’ll see.”
Championship or not, Sunday’s season finale at Homestead will be emotional for Truex and Furniture Row Racing. Without adequate sponsorship to fulfill the 2019 season, team owner Barney Visser announced in September that the Denver, Colorado-based team would shut down.
A team that has worked through the ringer from a backmarker to a mid-packer from a contender to a winner and a winner to champion, the legacy has been made for the No. 78 team, but it doesn’t make Sunday’s race any easier knowing the Homestead will be the last time.
Still, Truex and the team are treating Homestead as a normal weekend while trying to keep their emotions in check.
“I would say it’s more normal because we’ve been here twice already,” Truex sounded.
It seems like every time you do it, you get a little bit more used to it, and it feels a bit more of just another weekend. I think for us, you throw it out there, it’s really just another race, and the more I feel like you can look at it that way and race that way, the better off your chances are.
“That’s what we did last year. We said it’s just another race. We’re going to go down there and do what we’ve done all year long, and that’s what we did.
“I feel awesome, ready to go, and I can’t wait to get on the track tomorrow and see what we’ve got.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01
