Martin Truex Jr Still Struggling to Find Pace Despite NASCAR’s Phoenix Relief

For a driver like Martin Truex Jr, it is the adage, “slow and steady wins the race,” that guides him to success. The former Cup Series winner may not make the headlines day in and day out, but he is steadily climbing up the points table and currently stands third after Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney. However, that does not provide an air of relief to the driver as NASCAR moves to Phoenix on Sunday. 

Although the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has tasted victory in the past on the track of Phoenix, things are not on the brighter side for Martin Truex Jr. With the track unveiling its new short track package on Sunday’s race, Truex Jr seems to be apprehensive of the new configuration, especially after its extended practice of fifty-five minutes. 

Martin Truex Jr reveals his dissatisfaction with the new short-track package at Phoenix

While short tracks have been a quintessential part of NASCAR since the rollout of the Next Gen cars, the narrative seems to have taken a turn. Short Tracks and Next Gen cars are the most incompatible partners at the moment. However, to bring back the essence of yesteryears, the Cup Series race is set to debut new track packages after it carried out trial runs back in December. 

While the NASCAR community eagerly waits for the new package debut, Martin Truex Jr seems unfazed by the new alterations. Rather, he complained of struggling to find pace during the extended practice session.

When asked about finding a grasp on the track by the media, Truex Jr stated, “It’s nice to have a practice under our belt to be able to try a few things. We tried a few things, made a difference, for sure, got better. Just ran out of time, ran out of things to change. So, hopefully, we can make some more adjustments here before tech and this afternoon. And get it right for tomorrow and Sunday.”

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When asked to compare his performance in last year’s fall race and during the practice session, the #19 Toyota driver expressed, “I think in the fall we qualified on the front row and we had a fifth if I remember right about a fourth-fifth place car, so we were close. We had issues on pit road as usual but yeah working on that still. I think we are probably not quite good yet but hopefully we will get a little better than that.”

While Martin Truex Jr accepted of struggling to find traction during the practice session, his teammate Christopher Bell seemed to have found his hold and had a favorable practice session. Speaking of his teammate, Truex Jr also added, “We already talked about what he’s got and the direction we need to head so that’s the nice part about teammates.”

Tyler Reddick lashes out as the new track package fails to impress him

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It wasn’t just Martin Truex Jr. who complained about not finding pace as well as about the new short track package. It’s also his Toyota teammate Tyler Reddick. Although the trials had carried out testing with a new rear diffuser, spoiler adjustments, and new tires, it failed to excite the 23XI Racing driver. Instead, it made the driver furious after he was involved in a spin and a possible wreck.

Speaking to the media after the practice session, a disappointed Reddick stated, “I don’t know if that’s some of our handling issues, but yeah, just every time I feel like we made a positive change, we’d get in traffic and it’d just be gone again. Pretty interesting to say the least, I think this package was supposed to help traffic but it feels exponentially worse.”

“Very interesting trying to feel out your car, feel out what’s happening there out in traffic as well. I’m sure we got a lot to talk about and figure out in a short amount of time.”

If this seems to be the feedback from the drivers after a full fifty-five minutes of practice, it does not bode well for Sunday’s race. Whether these two Toyotas will be able to turn the tables will be seen on Sunday.

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