Truex Jr. quietly rolls toward 2nd Cup title
He is only driver locked into the the finale at Homestead-Miami track
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Martin Truex Jr. struggled on short tracks for 15 years before he finally snapped his streak of futility and swept this season at Richmond. He’d been inching his way closer to victory lane, only to come up empty in frustrating finish after frustrating finish.
Martinsville Speedway wasn’t any kinder to Truex, who recalled “the first couple times I came here, we were terrible. I mean, awful.”
The trip to the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit last weekend was different. It was a vital playoff race. Truex was intent on collecting his first grandfather clock (Martinsville awards a clock instead of a traditional trophy), and he had gone so far as to choose a spot in his home for the prestigious item.
“In my living room, you’ll be able to see it as soon as you walk in the front door,” he said. “I’ve actually looked at that spot before and thought, ‘That grandfather clock would look good right there.’”
Truex earned his first clock Sunday by demolishing the competition in leading all but 36 of the 500 laps. The longawaited victory also locked him into NASCAR’s final four with the chance to race for the Cup Series championship Nov. 17 for the third consecutive year. His move to Joe Gibbs Racing after Furniture Row Racing closed at the end of last season has been almost flawless.
Truex goes to Texas Motor
Speedway this weekend as the only driver locked into the finale and leads the Cup series with seven victories.
Crew chief Cole Pearn can literally do nothing the next two weeks but work on the No. 19 Toyota that Truex will race in the final at Homestead-Miami Speedway — a luxury the other seven title contenders don’t have as they claw their way toward the remaining three slots. But sitting back isn’t part of the plan.
Although Truex raced with Furniture Row for the title in four of the last five seasons — he won in 2017 and was runner-up to Joey Logano last year — he’d never before won in the third round of the playoffs to earn an automatic berth in the title race. Now that he’s locked in, he and Pearn want more.
“We’ve never been in this position before — every time we’ve made the final four we’ve pointed our way in,” Truex said, referring the points standings. “We’ve never won in this round, so it’s new territory. It’s good territory to be in, but, honestly, we can’t change who we are. You race every week the same.”