Truex shows no signs of slowing down
JOLIET, I LL . Four takeaways from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday as teams prepare for the second playoff race next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway: ON BOARD THE TRUEX
TRAIN: It’s obviously very early in the playoff run and the all-or-nothing race at Homestead-Miami Speedway is crazily difficult to predict, but it’s tough to bet against Martin Truex Jr. at this point.
He was the big dog in the garage through the regular season, winning four times and stacking up stage wins like pancakes at a diner. After being denied an almost-certain win under questionable circumstances at Richmond Raceway in the regular-season finale Sept. 9, he was like a man on a mission Sunday, storming back from early trouble to oppressive- ly dominate over the closing laps.
Truex now skates into the second round regardless of his performances at New Hampshire and Dover International Speedway, and his path to the third round looks clearer and clearer, thanks largely to his regular-season strength and his slew of playoff bonus points that will carry over into rounds two and three.
Of course, Truex could win all nine playoff races on the way to Homestead and he still would have to outrun the other three contenders in the final race of the season to win the championship.
That’s the zaniness of the playoff system. To date, however, Truex and his team, scoring five
wins in a season for the first time, are mastering it.
CHASING CHASE: Other than a great run by Truex, Chase Elliott was Sunday’s standout.
Still winless (he’s tiring of hearing that), Elliott entered the playoffs as a considerable underdog. After Chicagoland, the worm might have turned.
Elliott led 42 laps, finished second and had a clean-if-not-spectacular race. He moved from 10th to sixth in playoff points, much closer to riding into round two via points than he was before Sunday.
Typically laconic after the race, Elliott still acknowledged advancement.
“From where we’ve been to where we ran today was a major, major step in the right direction,” he said. “Frankly, it’s where we need to be, where we deserve to be, to the potential we can run.”
IT’S THE PITS: Kyle Busch probably had the only car in the field that could have challenged the race winner.
Busch led 78 of the first 80 laps of the race before two miscues in the pits — loose lug nuts and a crewman over the wall too soon — dropped him two laps down. He never fully recovered, finishing 15th, one lap down, despite having a potent car.
Ironically, Busch opened the playoffs with a new pit crew. Because of a more consistent performance by teammate Daniel Suarez’s crew, Joe Gibbs Racing chose to replace Busch’s regular crew with that of Suarez for the playoffs.
The tactic backfired, and it’s likely there will be extensive discussions about the issues early this week at JGR. Busch watched an important playoff win disappear in the dust. TOUGH SLEDDING: The biggest disappointments in the playoff group Sunday were Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (25th), Ryan Newman (23rd) and Kasey Kahne (21st).
Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Stenhouse, Kahne and Newman are in the bottom portion of the playoff points standings entering the New Hampshire race, but victories mean automatic advancement to the next round, so all is not lost.