Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Toyota Camry was the first race car to bow out of the Cup Series race at Richmond. It wasn’t the Goodyear tire curse or a detrimental crash, but rather the Toyota engine that gave up on him. Now engine troubles with the JGR Toyota race cars have been well documented this year, and after Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, Truex Jr. is now facing the wrath at Richmond.

At Sonoma earlier in June this year, Denny Hamlin’s day went up in smoke—literally. Just two laps into the Toyota Save Mart 350, his No. 11 car started trailing thick, white smoke as he crossed the start/finish line on the road course. Unfortunately, Hamlin became the race’s first retiree, finishing dead last in the 38-car field. This unexpected early exit not only knocked him out of the race but also cost him the lead in the Cup Series standings, making it his worst finish of the season and a tough blow to his championship hopes.

Next, three weeks later in Nashville, with 73 laps to go, Christopher Bell found himself in the thick of the action heading into Turn 1, surrounded by a gaggle of cars. But in a split second, his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota snapped sideways, sending him spinning left-rear first into the SAFER barrier between Turns 1 and 2. The impact was brutal, leaving his car too damaged to continue. Bell’s day ended with a disappointing 36th-place finish.

Now, this time the run for No. 11 and No. 20 was going well so far, but as the No. 19 Toyota Camry was running up in the field, contesting for the lead, something unusual happened. In what is his last competitive Cup race at the Action Track, MTJ will have to end the race with a DNF just running 250 out of 400 laps. However, with the engine going up in flames, crew chief James Small was worried about his driver’s safety. “Shut it down!” he was heard screaming over the team radio.

But, MTJ got irate with the yelling and screaming and replied, “God, you don’t have to yell! I can’t understand you. Jesus f**k.”

Sharing his views on the engine failure, the veteran driver later in the pitlane said, “It’s like it broke a valve spring or something and then it kind of self-disintegrated, self-destructed really quickly. I don’t know, just one of them days. Just a shame. My last start at this track, would’ve been nice to get another win. It blew up. It started missing and then I came down pit road and it was on fire.”

Martin Truex Jr. had a huge buffer in terms of points going into the last three regular-season races. But his early elimination will bring the chasing pack closer and could lead to a nail-biting race at Darlington in a few weeks. Hopefully, in the meantime, TRD and JGR can find a fix for their broken engines.

MTJ’s points buffer isn’t invincible anymore

An RCR driver winning one of the four remaining regular season races was not something anyone could have thought of before this race. The focus was on the likes of Bubba Wallace, Chris Buscher, and Ross Chastain. All of them tussling for points or that elusive win, Martin Truex Jr. was seen running in a different lane with more than 100+ points buffer. But Austin Dillon’s victory certainly spoils the plan for the rest of the bunch and even puts the JGR driver at risk now.

Although Truex Jr. started the season on a good note, he seems to have dropped the ball in terms of consistent results, with playoffs inching closer. In his last five races, including today’s run, he has only managed a single top-10 finish. While he did have the cushion of points, today’s DNF, accompanied by a 13th different driver winning the race, his place in the playoffs is far from assured.

He even came into Sunday’s race sitting 13th in the playoff standings, with a solid 108-point cushion above the elimination line. But Richmond threw him a curveball. It’s a rare stumble for the retiring 2017 Cup Series champion, who had impressively completed 5,817 out of 5,824 laps this season before this race.

Next, Ty Gibbs, who had an advantage of 42 points coming into today’s race, is now closer to the cutline; only 18 points separate him from the 16th-place driver. Today was a stark reminder for all the drivers that points alone won’t be enough to secure a playoff ticket. Hopefully, the #11 team can recover from today’s unfortunate end and fend off the charge of the contenders below them in the points table.