RICHMOND, Va.: Martin Truex Jr.’s dominating performance in Sunday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway unraveled when the caution flag waved with two laps remaining, sending the first night of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season into overtime.
Truex, fending off Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the closing laps of the race lost control of the race heading into the first attempt at NASCAR overtime when he lost the lead on pit road – rolling out second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.
On the overtime restart on Lap 406, Hamlin accelerated hard out of the restart zone with Truex remaining side-by-side with his No. 19 Auto-Owners Toyota Camry at the entrance of Turn 1. By the exit of Turn 2, Hamlin had slid Truex up the groove enough to break his momentum and allow Hamlin to escape to the white flag.
On the final lap, Truex found himself in an intense battle with polesitter Kyle Larson, with the two drivers rubbing fenders over the final 0.75 miles of the race, with Larson edging Truex by 12-one-thousandths of a second.
After the checkered flag, Truex door-slammed Larson, and the two cars collided, with Larson nearly making contact with the wall. On the backstretch, Truex charged up to the rear bumper of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry and gave the two-time Cup Series winner this season three aggressive bumps on the rear bumper before the cars entered pit road.
Truex did not immediately speak to either Hamlin or Larson after the race but unleashed his thoughts, insinuating he felt that Hamlin jumped the overtime restart.
“I mean, it’s unfortunate,” said Truex after the race. “Unfortunately, this has happened here a few times over the years.
“Yeah, we were in a great spot. Had a great Auto Owners Camry all night long. The guys did a really good job. Got beat out of the pits. Got… I don’t know. He (Hamlin) jumped the start, then just used me up in turn one, so…
“Definitely sucks. But a good, solid day. Another car capable of winning. So just have to come back next week, try to get them again.”
Larson discussed the contact with Truex after the checkered flag, implying he felt like was Truex’s punching bag after his race came apart in the final nine laps of the race.
“I think he was just mad,” explained Larson. “Like, he was mad that the 11 (Hamlin) used him up on the restart. That’s probably where it really started from. Then the 22 (Joey Logano) got to his inside one and two. I got in behind the 22. He just turned left across my nose, had me up on the apron off of two.
“I don’t know if he thought I just piled it in there. Then he door-slammed me down the middle of the backstretch. I figured in three and four I was going to use him up a little bit.
“I think he is more mad at Denny, but I was the closest one to take his anger out on. I haven’t seen a replay either. I’m guessing the replay looks the way I kind of saw one and two, and then he’ll realize that and probably be all right.”
Larson wasn’t upset about the post-race contact with Truex; rather, he was surprised, but the 2021 Cup Series champion brushed it off, praising the respect he had for the 34-time Cup winner.
“Martin is probably the most respected guy in the garage area,” added Larson. “So, I was surprised when he turned left on me down the backstretch after the checkered.
“It’s all good. I hope he doesn’t have any hard feelings to me because I definitely don’t towards him. Like I said, I got a lot of respect for him.”
Team owner Joe Gibbs discussed the quick downfall of Truex’s night but offered lauded the effort of the No. 19 team led by crew chief James Small.
“These guys put so much into this,” said Gibbs. “They’re all great competitors. These things are so hard to win. So, when you have an experience the way Martin did tonight, to race that hard. At one point when the 5 (Larson) got in front of us on the pit stop, he came right back and got it. He drove his heart out.
“Then to have a caution, we go that far, with three (two) laps to go, it was devastating. We came out of there, came out second on the pit stop. Honestly, that’s what I was trying to relate to everybody. You’re happy for Denny certainly and everything that happened tonight for him, but then you see Martin, how hard he fought for this, how much he wanted it.”
Despite the disappointment of Truex not winning, Gibbs understands how quickly the dynamics of a race can change.
“That’s part of our sport. It’s really hard,” he added. “You see these guys when it gets down towards the end of these races, they’re going for it because they are really hard to win. You can’t have that happen, particularly if you got good cars, good drivers. They all want it. They want it for their sponsor. They want it for themselves, their career.
“You really feel for them when they go through a night like Martin went through this night. You just feel for them.”
Despite not winning Sunday night’s race, Truex is the current Cup Series points leader. He holds a slim 14-point margin over Larson heading to next Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
