In a sport defined by the finest of margins, luck plays a big role in separating the winners from others. Nobody would know that better than NASCAR veteran Martin Truex Jr, who continues to look for his first win of the season, despite achieving several strong results so far. It’s not like Truex Jr hasn’t come close to victory either, having finished runner-up in Bristol, third in Dover, and fourth in Kansas.

Such has been his luck that Stewart-Haas Racing driver Noah Gragson has handed Martin Truex Jr the least coveted crown on the NASCAR grid, calling him the “unluckiest” in an exclusive on-ground interview with EssentiallySports, the official media partners of Real American Beer at Pocono.

Martin Truex Jr has been consistently close, yet so far

With four top-five finishes and eight top-ten results, Martin Truex Jr is currently ranked 5th in the drivers standings, the highest position for a driver who hasn’t won a race so far. With six races to go until the regular season ends, the veteran Joe Gibbs Racing driver will be hoping to turn his fortunes around, starting at Pocono Raceway, a track that he has won twice at, in 2015 and 2018.

While taking a stroll with his backpack on, Noah Gragson paused for an exclusive chat with our NASCAR journalist, Bharat Aggarwal. When asked about the lucky and unlucky dog of NASCAR, Gragson took a moment to reflect before responding, “Logano has somehow figured out a way to get up front at the end of these races. He might not run as good in the middle but he finishes really good. The unluckiest? I’ll probably say, I don’t know. Let’s go with Truex.”

Noah Gragson may have a point, though. At the Würth 400 earlier this season, Martin Truex Jr finished 15th in qualifying, but a stellar Stage 1 performance during the race saw him finish first. However, he couldn’t keep his momentum in Stage 2, dropping down to fourth, only to finish the race in the top three. While the result was fantastic considering where he was after qualifying, one can’t help but feel it was another missed opportunity for Martin Truex Jr.

A similar situation occurred in Bristol when Truex Jr was 11th in qualifying but climbed up to seventh place after Stage 1 and sixth place in Stage 2. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver showed a majestic performance in Stage 3, finishing the race in 2nd place behind teammate Denny Hamlin. Maybe if the race went into overtime, Martin Truex Jr could have secured his first win of the season.

But letting bygones be bygones, Truex Jr is geared up for this weekend. In a pre-race presser, the driver exuded optimism and said, “You know, speed-wise…aside from maybe last week and in Iowa, we’ve been solid. So just need to capitalize on that and execute. You know, takes a lot of things to finish it up front, lead laps, win races other than just having a fast car. So hopefully, we can put it all together this weekend. Hopefully, this is a normal straightforward weekend and we can have a good day today and execute tomorrow. And we’ll be up front, we’ll be in good shape.”

Hopefully, the ‘unlucky’ tag will leave the driver this time. But, till then, more and more people seem to agree with Noah Gragson’s views!

Is Truex Jr really that unlucky?

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It’s hard not to acknowledge the #10’s opinion, given how desperately unlucky Martin Truex Jr has been this season. Speaking exclusively to EssentiallySports’ on-ground reporter Bharat Aggarwal, even part-time Xfinity Series driver Stephen Mallozzi echoed theCup driver’s views about the 2023 Regular Season champion. When asked who the unlucky dog of NASCAR is, Mallozzi candidly replied, “Probably Martin Truex Jr, he never has any luck. He will fully dominate Richmond…dominated the race, should’ve won that thing, and pretty much a caution-free race.

“Kyle Larson spins off the bumper of Bubba Wallace when he’s half a lap away from victory, loses, falls back to 4th on the restart, and loses the race. You can’t get any more unlucky than that. Sonoma he runs out of gas, running 2nd with half a lap to go, and finishes 27th. Just feels like every time he’s running up front something happens & ruins his day,” Mallozzi further added.

The veteran JGR driver had led 228 out of 400 laps, and won a stage, only to miss out on victory at the hands of his teammate Denny Hamlin. The 44-year-old’s fate was sealed when Bubba Wallace got loose and spun Kyle Larson. This resulted in the first overtime finish of the 2024 season, prompting race leaders to pit for fresh tires. That’s when Denny Hamlin, who entered the pit lane in third place, went ahead of Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano (because of his 9.0-second pit stop), a staggering 1.3 seconds faster. Evidently angry, Truex Jr vented his frustration on the race winner by bumping his car thrice.

“Unfortunately, it’s happened to us a few times here at Richmond. Lead the whole race and then some stupid, dumb ass move brings out a caution coming to the white flag and ruins our whole night,” further complained the driver in a post-race interview.

Similarly, at Sonoma, Martin Truex Jr’s No. 19 Toyota ran out of fuel while running in second place on the final lap, which forced the veteran to lose 25 positions instantly, finishing the race in 27th place. He crossed the finish line at a snail’s pace and was the last car in the lead lap.

The 44-year-old was looking to secure his fourth win at Sonoma after taking the lead from Chris Buescher with nine laps to go, but was overtaken by Kyle Larson on fresher tires. Truex Jr was forced to settle for a top-30 finish instead. Talk about bad luck!

Do you think Martin Truex Jr will win a race this season? Let us know in the comments!