LONG POND, Pa. – Martin Truex Jr., winner of three of the last five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races saw his bid to win his fourth race of the year in Sunday’s Pocono 400 end abruptly near the conclusion of Stage 2 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
While running comfortably inside the top-10, Truex brought his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry for a routine pit stop near Lap 50, but while on pit road – smoke started to billow from the headers of his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.
A quick diagnosis determined the engine failure was terminal sending last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 to the garage and a sour 35th place finish.
“Coming off the Tunnel Turn (Turn 2) it kind of sputtered a little bit and I thought for a minute maybe it was running out of gas,” Truex said. “I could see the smoke trail. It self destructed pretty quick. As it went down pit road I pretty much knew our day was done.”
Truex thought he had initially ran out of fuel, but realized his situation was more serious while on pit road.
“I thought maybe it was a possibility we were out of gas, but it started smoking out of the pipes and shut off,” explained Truex. “Tough day. TRD (Toyota Racing Development, U.S.A.) does a great job of building engines and obviously, they’re fast. Probably a fluke deal. I’m not sure, but we’ll go back to look at it. Frustrating day.”
Truex’s 491st Cup race was just his second DNF (did not finish) of the season and first since the season-opening Daytona 500 in February where he finished 35th after being involved in a crash 17 laps from the finish.
In qualifying on Saturday morning, Truex Jr. qualified 20th and maneuvered to finish Stage 1 in ninth. The Mayetta, New Jersey was the defending champion of the Pocono 400.
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