MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Martin Truex Jr. could see the checkered flag waving roaring off Turn 4 during Sunday’s First Data 500, but Truex went from first to third within a matter of inches after getting a bump from Joey Logano coming to the stripe – a move that ultimately sent Logano into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and Truex still fighting for his opportunity to defend his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship next month.
During Stage 3, Logano had a strong car – but not the strongest car. After fending off Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski in the closing laps, Furniture Row Racing’s Truex passed Keselowski with nine laps to go with the No. 78 Toyota quickly closing the gap and finding himself on the No. 22 bumper inside five laps remaining.
Truex raced Logano clean and had an opportunity to swipe the lead with three laps to go but fighting his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford on the outside lane, Logano slipped back to the front.
On the white flag, Logano bobbled in Turn 1 opening the door for Truex who made the move coming of Turn 2 onto the backstretch, Logano then saw his opportunity to pass Truex back exiting
Turn 4 with a tap to Truex’s rear knocking him sideways into Logano who held on to charge to the checkered flag ahead of Denny Hamlin and Truex who settled for third.
After the race, a visibly upset Truex slammed fenders with Logano letting him know his displeasure.
Climbing from his car, an agitated Truex vowed that Logano may have won the battle but he hasn’t won the war.
“I just took a cheap shot at the end there. Had an awesome race car all day long and did what we had to do to put ourselves into position to win our first time here at Martinsville, our first short track. Honestly just proud of my team, proud of all our guys,” Truex said.
“This is the kind of day we had to come here and have. I really wanted to win that race and feel like we definitely deserved it.
“We raced him (Joey Logano) all clean. We passed him clean all day long and just out ran him in the long run. I pretty much had the feeling going to the backstretch that that was going to happen and there was nothing I could do about it. It sucks, but that’s the way it goes. I can promise you I won’t forget what he did.”
“(Logano) May have won the battle but he ain’t winning the damn war,” Truex said. “That’s it.”
When asked if Logano going to win the championship, the reigning Cup Series champion responded, “I’m not letting him. I’m going to win the championship.”
In retrospect, Truex has to survive the final two races at Texas Motor Speedway and ISM (Phoenix) Raceway to make it to the Championship Round at Homestead, but if he does, life could prove difficult to Logano.
Truex insisted he would have raced him fair if the roles were reversed.
“I was next to him for six laps. I never knocked him out of the way,” Truex explained.
“We were going to race hard for it in my book. I cleared him fair and square. We weren’t even banging doors for me to pass him. He just drove into the back of me and knocked me out of the way. That’s short track racing, but what goes around comes around.”
Logano, now a 20-time winner in Cup said he had to do what he had to do to make the fight for his first Cup Series title.
“Miami. Just thinking about Miami and thinking about how we can win a championship with this car,” said Logano.” Martin was definitely better, our car wasn’t as good that last run, I was just trying to be defensive that last run.”
“It’s racing, it’s what we have to do to get there. We have to get there first,” Logano added in Victory Lane. “We had a great car today. Our pit crew won us the race – they are so fast.
“Some are going to like it and haters are going to hate a little bit but I’m a hard racer. I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone. We’re here to win a championship this year.”
Asked how he would approach the rest of the season after what emerged Sunday, Logano said, “We’re just looking ahead right now. We’re focused on building a great car. Team Penske has been doing a great job giving me great cars in the playoffs.
“It feels so good to finally win at Martinsville. We’ve led so many laps, qualified good and to finally get a win. I don’t feel like tracks owe you but man been there so close trying to get that Grandfather clock. Man, it feels good.
“What happens from here is going to happen, but we’re going focus on moving forward right now and building a great car for Miami.”
Logano’s owner Roger Penske outspokenly defended his driver’s actions after Truex deemed the move a “cheap shot and a cheap win.”
“He’s a racer and should know better than to say that,” Penske said. “That’s as clean a shot as you can have in a race like this. I didn’t hear Kyle Busch or the 42 have any kind of conversation after that race.
“To me, I’m really looking forward. We want to go to Miami. Joey ran a great race. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just a comment that I don’t think we deserve. We’ll race him day after day. Stirring some controversy that he’s trying to spread. From my perspective, Joey drove a great race. The team won on pit road. You can see that, how many times he got out front.
“Leading the number of laps shows the job that Todd and the team did. That’s my position.“
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
