Phoenix (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. stood on the pit road shortly after winning his first Phoenix victory in a nearly 20-year cup career, quickly targeting more meaningful races on the track. I put it.
“I wish it was November,” Truex said. “Hopefully, I can go back to November and challenge the championship.”
Eight months later, Truex returned to the desert and actually challenged the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, as Joe Gibbs Racing drivers wanted.
Truex did not guarantee his position on the field by calling his shot perfectly, but the 2017 champion is the four drivers he is racing for the Sunday title on the Phoenix Raceway. There was good reason to feel like I was back in. This is the fifth time Truex has raced for the championship since 2015, and in the last two runners-up, he has won everything with as good a shot as the other three drivers.
Always a threat on the track, Truex is the most discreet championship candidate in the cup.
Denny Hamlin, backed by raw emotions from dust with other drivers, finds a few things to use as motivation, like his fellow 23XI owner Michael Jordan. It’s the story of the season that Kyle Larson has returned from a pause to defeat the drivers in racial slur. Chase Elliott is on the verge of winning his second straight title, participating in World Series games and cheering for the Atlanta Braves.
And Truex?
Outside of racing, Truex only shines when walking on the runway to raise money for charity.
“Fortunately, I haven’t been in conflict lately,” Truex said Thursday. “When it comes to races like this, it’s always good to have no enemies.”
A year after the worst season of blooming long-time competitors, Truex quietly did business and won four races. A 41-year-old from New Jersey prefers fishing and hunting during downtime rather than creating off-track headlines. Hamlin and Larson caught the attention of the media when the four drivers spoke at the same time prior to this weekend’s finale.
But spending time in the spotlight of the championship certainly beats the alternative — no competition for the title. Truex’s four wins are the fifth since 2016, and have reached that total, including eight career bests in 2017. But last season, Truex paired with crew chief James Small in the first season. He drove the No. 19 Toyota with only one win and finished seventh in the point rankings last season.
The first real sign of his rebound was when he blew Joey Logano on his final restart in March and was pulled away to win his first 31 career races on the mile track.
“It was the best car I’ve ever had here throughout my career,” he said. “The car feels really good and has done a lot of good things. If we can do that again and hopefully speed it up, it will be difficult to deal with.”
Truex won his second playoff race in Richmond and drove a tattered car in the fourth and last slot of the playoff field in Martinsville last week. His victory in the spring boosted his repeat bids, but Truex has traditionally struggled with Phoenix, with only five top fives with four DNFs in his career.
TrueX, who signed the contract extension before the Daytona 500, won three career cup series in the first 10 full seasons before starting his career at Furniture Row Racing, which is now obsolete in 2016. .. He has won 28 of 31 career wins since 2016 and is a longtime championship candidate. Truex has competed with FRR in three of the last four seasons. He won in 2017 and was second only to Logano in 2018. He finished second again in 2019 in his first season at JGR.
TrueX maintained its lead with 12 laps remaining at the 2018 Homestead-Miami Championship race, but before Logano caught him, the 2019 bid was damaged by a tire mix-up in the pits. Bush sacrificed his shot to catch Kyle. The 312-mile race on Sunday means less time to overcome possible slow problems.
“The last two cars finished in second place and probably had the best car,” said Truex.
JGR’s teammate Hamlin has won twice, and veterans don’t have enough time to win their first Cup Championship. Larson has nine wins at Hendrick Motorsports and teammate Elliott has two.
“I feel like the best four teams are in the final four,” Larson said.
Upon victory, Truex joins Kyle Busch as the only active driver with two championships.
“We know we have great shots with it, but we don’t have the weight of the world on our shoulders,” says Truex. “I’ve done this before. We were here before. I understand what I need.”
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Truex Quietly Chase 2nd NASCAR Cup Championship in Phoenix | WGN Radio 720
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