KANSAS CITY, Kan: Ryan Truex had all the hopes in the world of shaking up the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and earn his first career Xfinity win in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. Unfortunately, the JR Motorsports driver’s day was over in six miles.
While racing his way towards the front, Truex suddenly lost his steering power on Lap 3 and by the time he crossed the line to complete Lap 4, the engine had seized in his No. 8 Marquis Spa Chevrolet Camaro abruptly ending the day and season for the Mayetta, New Jersey native.
Back in the garage, Truex uttered his disappointment for the change of events in the race, especially as the 27-year-old felt like he had a strong enough car to compete with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff drivers for the win in the 30th race of the season.
“I lost powering steering for half a lap then it blew up,” said Truex. “It sucks, this is the best car I’ve had since Phoenix, best one of the year. We had a top-five car for sure. That really sucks. I thought we would have a chance to show what we got. Thanks to Marquis Spas for being on the car again. Yeah, hopefully, I’ll see you next year.”
Kansas marked the sixth and final race for Truex, the younger brother of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and while he wheeled the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro to one top-
five and four top-10 finishes in his six starts overall – the 27-year-old felt that Kansas was the best car he had all season and it has nothing to show for it.
Truex also doesn’t have his plans for the 2020 season figured out yet, but after running the full 2018 season for Kaulig Racing where he just mounted one top-five and 11 top-10 finishes – many think he impressed in a limited role with JR Motorsports and crew chief Taylor Moyer.
Truex and his No. 8 team came out swinging at ISM Raceway (Phoenix) in the spring with a career-best second-place effort and then backed it up with back-to-back finishes of eighth and seventh at Kentucky Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway respectively.
Last month, Truex earned a top-10 race in a competitive race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
“It’s hard to explain how hard it is to come out here, I haven’t raced anything else,” explained Truex. “This is my only sixth race of the year, period. So, to not be able to have a chance to show that we had a good Camaro is tough to swallow for sure.”
Jeb Burton will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway and the season-finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway – while JR Motorsports will announce a driver for the penultimate race of the year in the coming weeks.
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