Can the same thing happen twice? It did for Martin Truex Jr in Las Vegas on Sunday. It was just last year in this exact same race that Truex Jr lost out on a potential win because his crew chief took the gamble to not change tires during the final restart of the race. A year later, one might have figured that the #19 team would have learned a thing or two from their past mistakes. But that does not seem to be the case.

In the latest edition of the South Point 400, similar scenes took place as the former champion succumbed to a P8 finish from being race leader. Taking the mic on the podcast, “The Teardown,” veteran journalist Jordan Bianchi expressed his frustration with the consistent underperformance.

The #19 team decides to gamble yet again in Vegas despite past failures

The P8 finish was the driver’s best since the regular season race at the Watkins Glen International. Keeping the troubling fact that the team has basically just repeated their mistake from last year aside, their unexplainable troubles are a big cause of concern for Joe Gibbs. Jordan Bianchi took up the matter of firefighting that the #19 team is forced to do every week.

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The curious case of the continual hurdles that Martin Truex Jr faces every week

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Martin Truex Jr’s finish at Las Vegas was his best in the 2023 playoffs. Struggling with his car and crew since the onset of the first stage, the driver quickly fell out of favor for being the championship favorite. Going to Vegas, it was expected that his fortunes might change and he would bounce back with a better outing. While Sunday’s race did fall along the lines of that, it wasn’t nearly enough for a team of the #19’s caliber.

Voicing his exasperation, Jordan Bianchi continued, “When is this team going to put together just a normal race? Like just a quiet like right in the top 10, got stage points you know maybe we’re in the mix for the win. It just feels like every single week this team is always having to figure out or overcome something or other.”

Las Vegas put in Truex Jr’s pockets points that put him 2 clear above the cut-off line to make it to the Championship 4. But this is a stage of the playoffs where mistakes are extremely costly. In the next two races in Homestead-Miami and Martinsville, a wrong call on the lines of Sunday’s could effectively end the #19 team’s title hopes.

Read More: “Dropped Like a Rock”- Martin Truex Jr Shockingly Acquits Crew Chiefs in Pit-Call Fiasco