Truex and company overcoming adversity in NASCAR playoffs
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There have been soaring highs at the track for Martin Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team this season, a series-leading seven victories and a spot in the round of eight of NASCAR’s playoffs.
The crushing lows have come away from it.
There was the news this summer that Truex’s longtime girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, would need a second round of chemotherapy after doctors discovered a recurrence of cancer . She had her spleen taken out and was recovering in the hospital when Truex won the Cup Series race at Kentucky.
There was the news that Truex’s crew chief, Cole Pearn, lost his childhood friend to a bacterial infection. Jacob Damen’s unexpected death came just days before Truex won on the road course at Watkins Glen, and just before the man’s family was to attend the race at Michigan.
There was the hard decision Pearn had to make in the days after Truex’s victory at Charlotte, which assured his spot in the round of eight, to put his dog down. The pup had become an indispensable part of the family over the past 13 years, a constant companion on his rise through the ranks.
Then there was the news Saturday night that Jim Watson, one of the fabricators on the No. 78 car, had died of a heart attack . The 55-year-old crew member had accompanied the team to Kansas Speedway for the elimination race, helping usher the car through inspection just hours earlier.
True to form, the team rallied through adversity to reach Victory Lane again .
“It’s just like, man, I don’t know if regular life is supposed to be like this,” Pearn said Sunday night. “And it just keeps going on for some reason. It would be a lot nicer to have all the highs and not all the lows. That’s just how life is and we’re getting the full circle of it.”
Ricciardo on top after 2nd practice
Daniel Ricciardo put Red Bull on top of the second practice at the Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City, edging defending race champion and season championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Ricciardo has one victory and nine podium finishes. His fastest lap Friday was 1 minute, 17.801 seconds. Hamilton was 0.131 seconds behind.