Joe Gibbs Racing Member Justifies Martin Truex Jr’s Fiery Outburst After Internal Lapse Cost Him Big at Richmond

Martin Truex Jr was one of the many drivers who was left wanting more out of the race at Richmond. Starting the race at 10th, there was a lot more he could salvage on Sunday than the record books show. The fact that he came into Richmond with three wins at the venue, and a great string of performances prior to it, is the reason why he was considered one of the favorites to win the race by experts and bookmakers.

But fast forward to the second stage of the race, and one can see Truex shouting out at his team on the radio, boiling with rage. The #19 Camry crew chief James Small was on the receiving end of it. Small explained the circumstances that led to Truex being furious with Frontstretch in a post-race conversation.

Crew chief James Small discussed their shortcomings at Richmond

MTJ’s Sunday can be classified as an eventful one. Starting at 10th, early contact with JTG Daugherty Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr sent him to the back of the grid after losing 15+ positions on the track. Truex was battling near the 20th position for quite some time until his crew chief came up with a strategy to push forward in the green flag pit stops.

Teams have been exploring their options and possibilities on the short track. With the proposed short-track package changes, that were tested at New Hampshire, making it all the way to the top was an unreasonable ask from Truex.

Speaking about the outcome of the race, Small said, “Oh, definitely a net gain. You know, where we’re running, I think before we did that in the second stage, I think we’re 24th you know… not kind of stuck and we’re really bad on a short run, and you know, as the runs unfolded we started getting better and better. So originally it was just a plan. Just to try and stay on the lead lap as long as we could and catch a caution and all that but the way it panned out and the way, you know, the falloff went actually played to our hands.”

Truex took the lead for a short amount of time when some of the leaders decided to take the pit road. But he was easily overtaken with 96 laps to go by communication issues coming to the fore. Addressing their issues in their 3rd stage performance at Richmond, the JGR crew chief revealed some factors that decided the race for them.

“Even in the final stage there, it was still a net gain for us. We were just so slow taking off, even if we had better twice there. You know, our pace for the first five or six laps was God-awful. And then it came back at the end of the run so you know, that yellow flag doesn’t come out at the end, then we’d finish fifth which from where we were to start the day after the contact with the #47 and damage to our left rear is a good recovery and a good points day.”

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The #19 was visibly distraught at the lack of pace. Trying to cut into the podium places at the very least after losing the lead that lasted only briefly, Truex was livid at his team for their inability with communicating information via the radio.

Small put himself in Martin Truex Jr shoes admitting that he’d have done the same

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Martin Truex Jr did not just have to battle with other drivers on the track. Another key factor that played a role in the race was the scorching heat. Afternoons out there in Virginia can be quite the endurance test for drivers especially Truex’s teammate Denny Hamlin who suffered due to it.

Hamlin finished second after failing to grab an advantage on eventual winner Chris Buescher.  Speaking about Truex Jr’s outburst of anger in the latter stages of the race due to the faulty team radio, Small claimed, “It’s difficult.”

“Like it’s hard. He doesn’t have the information we have. We can see what lap times the other guys had run. At that point, in their runs, it’s hard when people obviously going past you and you’re the leader and everything like that.”

Acknowledging the #19 team’s efforts to still get a good chunk of points from the race, he added, “If I were him I’d be out there hot pi***d off and frustrated as well. I’m just happy he’s stuck with it and Drew did an amazing job just trying to relay the information and coaching through. Obviously, it’s not far from what we wanted but a good recovery nonetheless.”

Speaking about their issues with relaying information to Truex who was unaware of the cars behind him when he got his lead snatched, Small explained, “Yeah as the race went on the radio started getting worse. I think it’s very bad here especially where we’re pitted. The ambient noise and the yelling and everything is fine so, send my radio back again and see if we can find anything and probably didn’t help in losing my voice.”

Martin Truex Jr now has two 7th-place and one 11th-place finishes at Richmond in the Next-Gen car. Sunday’s valuable points will also help him in keeping his distance from regular season championship contenders Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch who follow him in the point standings.

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