Martin Truex Jr Threw in the Towel Mid-Race as NASCAR Dealt a Blow to His Championship Dream

Martin Truex Jr, at one point, seemed like the strongest candidate to win the Cup Series title. The #19 Camry driver was in red-hot form throughout the regular season which saw him clinch the regular season championship. But his performances since the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona took a massive dip and the 2017 Cup champion could not recover, no matter how he tried. In the end, he forfeited his claim to the title after a costly error in Martinsville on Sunday.

It is astounding how fast things went downhill for Truex Jr. Quite frankly, the only reason he even made it to the round of 8 was the 15 bonus points he collected in the regular season. But it was never going to be enough to see Truex Jr through to Phoenix.

The moment that crushed Martin Truex Jr’s championship hopes

Going into the Martinsville race, however, Martin Truex Jr seemed to have picked up a bit of form. Despite suffering a DNF in Miami (which probably was his undoing), the Joe Gibbs Racing driver scorched the field to claim pole position in Martinsville. The #19 team had a golden opportunity to book his place in Phoenix but alas, even the most experienced drivers sometimes end up making the most basic of errors.

Truex Jr was a real contender for the race win at Martinsville. After starting from pole, he led 47 laps and was one of the top three cars in stage 1. But his undoing came in stage 2. The JGR driver was penalized by NASCAR for speeding in the pitlane. That effectively took him out of contention for the win.

The veteran was absolutely deflated as he was given the harsh news. So much so that he even gave up on trying to make up places from that point on. It must have been extremely difficult given how good he had been before he sped in the pits. In the end, he could only manage a P12 finish.

“Sorry guys,” the former Cup Series champion said on the team radio after receiving the penalty. He had been so good in the regular season and to see it all come crashing down in the space of a few weeks, it’s hard to imagine what he is going through.

It just goes to show how difficult it is to be a Cup Series driver. In the post-race interview, Truex Jr acknowledged how hard the sport was and that he was absolutely devastated at how things turned out.

Martin Truex Jr rues poor execution as he leaves Martinsville in dejection 

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“Really disappointed. I mean, I thought I was well under speed leaving that box. Clearly we were speeding, so we have something to look at there. It’s devastating. That’s racing,” Martin Truex Jr said as per RACER magazine.

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The JGR veteran took a look back at his topsy-turvy season which saw him rise to the very top only to bring him down in the worst of ways. The #19 Camry had a lot of speed but execution from the team and himself was the biggest issue towards the end.

“Man, I think it just shows how tough this sport is. Anybody that races here and guys that have raced here that do the broadcasts, they’ll tell you, it’s this close, man. You find this little bit and suddenly you look like a hero. Some other guys find some stuff, suddenly you’re not. We’ve been fast at times, but execution hasn’t been solid, hasn’t been consistent. We’ve had some bad luck. We’ve had a little bit of everything,” Truex Jr added.

Now is the time to look to the future for the ones who failed to make it to Phoenix. Martin Truex Jr will have the opportunity to challenge the defending champion next year. One can be certain that the veteran will learn from his mistakes and come back stronger.

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