MARTINSVILLE, Va.: The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs have been dismal for Martin Truex Jr. and Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway was no exception.
Through the nine races of the Playoffs, Truex has managed just a best finish of ninth at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway earlier this month and despite the inconsistency from his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, Truex entered the penultimate race of the season still within an ear shot of being apart of the Championship 4.
For the second consecutive Playoff race, Truex had the best seat in the house, capturing his third pole of the 2023 season.
Truex led the opening 47 laps of the race until getting passed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.
Truex rode to a third-place finish in Stage 1 with that moment proving to be the highlight of his race.
In Stage 2, Truex, while running inside the top-10 was hammered with a speeding penalty on Lap 219 following a pit stop following the third caution of the race at Lap 216.
The penalty sent Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry to the rear of the field, where for the remainder of the race, he battled to get back to the front.
Adding insult to injury, on his next stop during the break between Stages 2 and 3, he lost even more track position when his pit crew dropped his jack during the stop.
Clawing through the field in Stage and a long 168-lap long green flag run to the finish assisted in Truex’s ability to climb through the field, but without the benefit of Stage 2 points and a late race caution, Truex found himself in a must-win position in order to challenge for his second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Truex finished 12th on Sunday afternoon and with an average finish of 19.7 – his Playoffs ended as the sixth seeded driver.
“If we couldn’t find a way to flip track position pit stop-wise, we were never going to get there (back to the front),” Truex said. “Our car was good. The field is so tight, so close. Your car drives so much worse in traffic.
“I felt like we did really good to get back to where we did. You just burn the tires off so much worse back there in the hot, dirty track, dirty air. You’re in more rubber. It’s just a dogfight.”
Truex said his No. 19 team gave a magnificent effort at Martinsville but insisted he did not have anything that could challenge the speed and the finesse of race winner Ryan Blaney.
“We gave it a hell of an effort,” added Truex. “I felt like we had a really strong car. I don’t think we could have beat the 12. He was really, really strong. We were definitely close.
“Something to work on for next time. Really disappointed. I mean, I thought I was well under speed leaving that box. Clearly we were speeding, so… Obviously we have something to look at there. It’s devastating. That’s racing.”
The regular season champion reflected after the race how intense the Playoffs are, and while the team was able to bring fast race cars to the track, execution lacked.
Simply put, the team could not deliver the strong finishes that propelled them to the regular season championship which included three victors.
And in the Playoffs, any mistake or mishap can be determinantal.
“Man, I think it just shows how tough this sport is,” explained Truex. “Anybody that races here and guys that have raced here that do the broadcasts, they’ll tell you. It’s this close, man.
You find this little bit, and suddenly you look like a hero. Some other guys find some stuff, suddenly you’re not. We’ve been fast at times, but execution hasn’t been solid, hasn’t been consistent. We’ve had some bad luck.
“We’ve had a little bit of everything. Like I said, some years it feels like it’s your year, some years it feels like it’s not. I just feel we couldn’t do anything right. If it was ever a 50/50 call, it always went against us. A blown engine, a flat tire, you name it. Problem after problem. Just kept setting us back, and we couldn’t get no momentum.
“I think we did a great job today. It was a tiny little error, .2 miles an hour can ruin your whole year unfortunately.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) at @Knighter01 or email: [email protected].
