Truex rolling along on Cup tracks
2017 champ seeks first NHMS win, 2019 sponsor
LOUDON, N.H. – Defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team will be thinking as much about sales as about speed over the next few months.
With four victories in hand, Truex is on course to have a good shot at winning a second consecutive championship, but a cloud moved over his season this week with the announcement that key sponsor 5-Hour Energy will be leaving the team, and the sport, at the end of the year.
The energy drink company shared primary sponsorship on the No. 78 Toyotas with Bass Pro Shops and, as a major sponsor, will be difficult to replace.
Meanwhile, there is racing. Although Truex has never won a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he will be among the favorites in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN) at the 1.058-mile track.
Truex, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch continue to dominate the season. Truex won in commanding fashion at Kentucky Speedway last week for his fourth victory. Harvick and Busch have five wins each, giving the so-called Big Three 14 wins in 19 races. The trio have combined to lead more than 2,500 laps.
Truex, who was named Best Driver at Wednesday night’s “ESPYs,” has a best finish of third, including last July, in 24 races at NHMS. He has led 513 laps in the track’s past four races.
“We had our chances the past couple of years, leading a lot of laps but couldn’t complete the job,” Truex said. “Last year (in July) we had the best car for a lot of that race, but we didn’t at the end.”
Truex has won Xfinity and K&N Pro East Series races at Loudon.
Last week at Kentucky, he ran the table, winning the pole and the race’s first
“We had our chances the past couple of years, leading a lot of laps but couldn’t complete the job. Last year (in July) we had the best car for a lot of that race, but we didn’t at the end.” Martin Truex Jr.
two stages before taking the checkered flag first.
Harvick won five of the season’s first 12 races but hasn’t won in the past seven. He’s far from being in a slump, however, having finished second twice and third, fourth and fifth over that stretch.
Harvick, who has won twice at Loudon, says riding near the front is imperative on the short NHMS oval.
“I’d say the most important thing at Loudon is track position, just because it’s hard to pass,” Harvick said this week. “You want to be up front and on the right strategy no matter what you do.”
Six current drivers have won three times at Loudon. Denny Hamlin, winless this year, is among that group, as is Jimmie Johnson, whose strange drought continues. Other three-time winners at NHMS are Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth (back this week in his part-time role at Roush Fenway Racing) and Ryan Newman.
With seven races remaining before the start of the playoffs, Johnson, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Newman remain winless.
Sunday’s race is the only NHMS Cup event on this year’s schedule. The track’s annual second event was moved to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is scheduled to host the playoff opener Sept. 16.