In undoubtedly his best performance of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Martin Truex Jr. rallied from his 15th-place starting position to finish a season-best fourth in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Before Sunday’s race, Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team best finish of the year came earlier this year at Dover (Del.) International Speedway with a sixth. For the second time this season, Truex Jr. and his team carried back-to-back top-10 finishes, as he finished seventh last weekend at Dover.
“I wasn’t sure when the race started I felt good about it,” said Truex Jr. “Honestly, the guys have done a very nice job on the Furniture Row team bringing good race cars the last few weeks. They have been working really hard to get this program turned around. It’s nice to get some good results. They really deserve it they have been working hard for it. Just hope we can keep these good runs going the rest of the year and hopefully be able to come out of the box next year strong. That is what we are planning on.”
There’s hope.
Sunday’s run definitely will give the Denver, Colorado-based team some momentum heading into Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway next weekend, where the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS finished 25th in May. Truex’s best finish at the 1.5-mile oval occurred in his Sprint Cup Series debut there in 2005 for Dale Earnhardt Inc., finishing seventh after starting 30th.
Nonetheless, Truex Jr’s first top-five finish of the season brought him within seven points of overtaking Marcos Ambrose for 23rd in the point standings. Not exactly what the combination had hoped for in their first season together, especially after Kurt Busch propelled the Barney Visser team into the Chase in 2013.
However, maybe with their fifth top-10 finish of the season, the No. 78 group has an opportunity to build on their effort. While they can’t contend for the championship, a win at Charlotte or Talladega would give the single-car operation a magic moment in the spotlight in a year of disappointments and agonizing questions.
Looks like the recent meeting of the minds paid off, maybe in more ways than one.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
