Martin Truex Jr may have held on and won the regular season championship in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series but he was not entirely happy with how his race eventually turned out. The veteran racer finished in 24th place in the final regular-season race at Daytona on Saturday, scoring 23 points thanks to a stage one win. His points haul was enough to see him win the regular season championship ahead of his teammate Denny Hamlin and HMS’s William Byron. However, according to Truex Jr, he wasn’t entirely happy with fellow JGR veteran Denny Hamlin. 

“Definitely Raced Different Than We Would Have,” Says Martin Truex Jr

In the post-race presser at the Daytona International Speedway, Truex Jr was asked if he had run the race differently knowing that the regular season championship and 15 bonus points were on the line. 

“Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think early on we kind of tried to do all we could to stay at the front. Was fortunate enough to have our teammates around us and be able to get the stage one win. That was a big deal,” he said.

The stage one win gave him the valuable points Truex Jr needed to become the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion and 15 bonus points which will come in very handy when the playoffs begin. However, Hamlin’s #11 car suffered an issue later on in the race which not only affected his own race but also shuffled Truex Jr further down in the pack, effectively ruining his chances of finishing anywhere near the top 10.

“As soon as the #11 car had his issue in stage two, we kind of got shuffled back a little bit, I felt like I was in a really bad spot. I decided to bail. Luckily I did because huge pileup a few laps later,” Truex Jr added.

Truex Jr then iterated that he could not run the race the way he wanted to and that had the #11 not faced an issue, he would’ve raced differently. “Didn’t really get to race the way I wanted to once we kind of got in that position. The 11 was a lap down. We just kind of had to be smart about it. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but we had to do what we had to do. We definitely raced different than we would have had the 11 not had his issues,” the 2023 regular season champion concluded.

Despite not running the final regular-season race to his preference, Martin Truex Jr clinched the regular-season championship for the second time in his career. The last time he did it, his confidence carried him straight to the Cup Series championship in 2017. The 43-year-old will be hoping for a similar outcome at the end of the 2023 season.

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Despite Denny Hamlin not by his side, Truex Jr wins his second regular-season championship

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The veteran racer was happy after clinching the title in the final race at Daytona. Truex Jr was quick to sing the praises of his crew at JGR and all of the partners involved, stating that he hoped to keep that form going into the playoffs.

“It’s really awesome to get these bonus points,” Truex Jr said. 

“I’m just really proud of my team and everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), TRD, Bass Pro, Auto Owners, Resers — all of our partners for giving us the opportunity to be here and to be able to have the season that we had. Hopefully, we can keep it going,” he added.

There was a long period of time during which Martin Truex Jr was absolutely flying and regularly fighting for race wins. It was this purple patch that helped him to eventually seal the regular season championship. The 43-year-old won the Cup Series in 2017 after winning his first-ever regular season title and he will look to repeat that feat in 2023.

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