The elder statesman of the NASCAR Cup Series signed off from the playoffs. After a rollercoaster ride of maintaining points throughout the season, Martin Truex Jr finally screeched to a finish. But the conclusion stung more, especially because Bristol is one of Truex’s stronger tracks. In the spring’s tire management race, the No. 19 Toyota driver delivered a stellar runner-up performance. This time, however, the same excellence fizzled out due to a stroke of bad luck.

Martin Truex Jr wallows in misery

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver started off strong. Harnessing the power of his short-track magic, Martin Truex Jr qualified 4th for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. People expected the 44-year-old veteran to finally claim his long-awaited victory, as Truex maintained the lead in the top five until Stage 2. By then, he had come dangerously close to toppling Kyle Larson from the lead. But then, an unfortunate grind with NASCAR’s rulebook stole his sparkle completely.

On lap 333, officials slapped Martin Truex Jr with a speeding penalty on pit road. He got relegated to the back of the pack and effectively ended his chances. He finished 24th, and in a post-race interview revealed his frustration. “It’s really tough when it’s 0.09mph that kind of scr*ws your whole chance at a good season up. So I just, I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t even know I was that close, honestly. I felt like I did the same thing as every other stop. Sometimes you’re just a foot to the left — it’s so tricky when you’re going from that curved section to the straight.”

This season is Martin Truex Jr‘s last, so the failure stung more as his team put in a solid effort to see him go out in glory.“It’s on me, obviously. My mistake. They said that we were going to have to run second or third there to have a chance and I don’t know if we could have done it, but it would have been nice to see. Just really sad for my guys. They work so hard. We had a really strong car tonight. We got a lot of stage points, we did what we needed to there.” He added in dismay, “Just hate I screwed it up. I wish we could have at least seen if we could have done it. Would have been fun to have a fighting chance.”

Thus lay shattered the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s retirement wishes. Let us see if Martin Truex Jr can still clinch a race win before retiring for good.