NASCAR drivers discuss the career and legacy of Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. recently announced he will retire from NASCAR at the end of the season, so we asked the drivers at USA TODAY 301 about his legacy.
While Kyle Larson was ahead at the Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race on Saturday evening, there were exciting battles further back in the field.
Bristol was the first elimination race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, which will see 12 drivers advance to the second round and four eliminated from championship contention. While no driver could hold a candle to Larson, who led an incredible 462 of 500 laps en route to his fifth win of the season and 28th of his career, drama was brewing all over the Tennessee short track as the 16 playoff drivers battled for track position and points in the standings.
The real action took place at the cutline, where teams calculated points during the race to keep their drivers in 12th place or better in the playoff standings. The best example: A driver who was in 2nd place halfway through the third stage had to fear a driver who was running in 30th place and several laps behind.
Such was the case with Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 Cup Series champion, who has announced that this will be his final season as a full-time racer.
Truex came to Bristol 15th in the playoff standings, but qualified fourth on Saturday and ran in the top five for most of the evening, doing exactly what he needed to do to force his way into the round of 12. On the other end of the spectrum was Daniel Suarez, who was fifth in the standings after two playoff races but had an extremely slow car all weekend.
And then a penalty came on lap 332 of 500 and it all turned around. Truex came down pit road in second place and held his position after refueling and changing tires – until NASCAR notified the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team that Truex had been penalized for speeding and sent him to the back of the field for the restart. While a second-place finish and a place in the playoffs had been within his grasp moments earlier, Truex now had to find a way to drive through the field while worrying about a driver who was logging laps behind him. In the end, Truex was never able to make up that ground. He finished 24th at Bristol and was one of four drivers eliminated from the playoffs along with teammate Ty Gibbs, 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton.
“It’s really tough – if it’s 0.09 miles per hour, it kind of ruins your whole chance of having a good season. It’s obviously on me, it’s my mistake,” said a visibly disappointed Truex after the race.
“They said we had to finish second or third to have a chance and I don’t know if we would have done that but it would have been nice to see that. We had a really strong car tonight and got a lot of stage points. We did what we had to do. I’m just mad that I messed it up.
“But from here we’ll just keep riding hard and hopefully get back to winning ways before it’s all said and done.”
Suarez never had a chance to win or race in the top 10. He qualified 35th out of 38 drivers and was never able to recover. Larson dropped him a lap, and then another, and another, and it seemed the Trackhouse Racing driver’s chance of making the round of 12 was rapidly fading. But Suarez had something Truex didn’t have – strong performances in the first two playoff races, including a second-place finish in the opening race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which allowed him to earn plenty of points – he had 44 more than Truex – going into this elimination race. And Suarez needed every one of them after finishing just 31st on Saturday night.
“It was a tough battle,” Suarez admitted after the race. “Since yesterday, when we unloaded the car for the first practice session, we just didn’t have the speed we needed. If you’re not fast enough out of the trailer, it’s very, very difficult to get back up to speed.”
“Luckily, we had a great Atlanta and a decent Watkins Glen after a wheel failure, and we were able to build a lead. And we definitely took every single point from that lead.”
But Truex wasn’t the only driver Suarez had to worry about as he drove around the back of the field. There was also Gibbs, who had started the night 12th in the playoff standings. Interestingly, a speeding penalty on pit road may have also soured Gibbs’ night, even though his penalty was imposed much earlier in the race. And although the 21-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs was able to recover in the third stage and get back into the top 10, he never finished above eighth. He ultimately finished the race 15th, trailing Suarez in the standings.
In the end, there was a huge celebration for Larson and Hendrick Motorsports in Bristol, a huge sigh of relief for Suarez and Trackhouse Racing, and mixed feelings at Joe Gibbs Racing as two drivers were eliminated but two others – Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin – advanced to the round of 12.
The Cup Series playoffs now move to Kansas Speedway, the first of three races in the second round, before chaos ensues at Talladega Superspeedway and another elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the Roval – a part road course, part oval track. The playoff drama will surely continue, but without Truex and with the possibility of a glorious end to a Hall of Fame career.
NASCAR playoff rankings enter the second round
Rank, driver, team, points, gap to leader. Over three races; points are reset after the first lap.
- Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports…3,047
- Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing…3,032…-15
- Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing…3,028…-19
- William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports…3,022…-25
- Ryan Blaney, Team Penske…3,019…-28
- Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing…3,015…-32
- Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports…3,014…-33
- Joey Logano, Team Penske…3,012…-35
- Austin Cindric, Team Penske…3,008…-39
- Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing… 3,006… -41
- Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports…3,005…-42
- Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing…3,005…-42
