While Kyle Larson tamed the toughest track in South Carolina, the night was not quite fruitful for Joe Gibbs. Although Coach Gibbs’s drivers, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, started at the front of the pack, they couldn’t finish well and could only muster 23rd and 25th place finishes, respectively. Meanwhile, despite making a better finish than his teammates, a crucial mistake went down the pit road, which dimmed Martin Truex Jr’s chances of clenching the victory.

A lot of anticipation regarding Martin Truex Jr lifting the cup at Phoenix was prevalent, especially considering how comfortable his wins have been and that he has won the regular season. But last Sunday’s race in Darlington did not live up to any of those expectations.

Truex’s crew chief revealed the cardinal mistake in their team’s operation

The #19 team did not have their best run in the opening playoff race. Indeed, a good start to this crown jewel race could have proven beneficial for the JGR speedster, but it was just not his day.

After the race was over, Frontstretch’s Dalton Hopkins walked up to Truex Jr‘s crew chief James Small and asked, “Is it frustrating knowing that at a track like this where you hit the walls pretty often that something like that can knock a toe link out that easily?”

James Small breathed disappointment as he revealed that their practice run was not any different from the final race. “Practice was going great and then we got on the wall. We thought we had it alright, maybe we didn’t,” he said, “Maybe that’s where we missed it… didn’t perform… need to do better.”

Small admitted that it was difficult for them to pass because the car was not great. Although they made significant efforts to move up the ladder, the lack of balance in the #19 Toyota just messed it up for Martin Truex Jr. “The balance was off. Hopefully, (we can) put that behind us and move on the next week,” he added.

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Martin Truex Jr fails to conceal his true feelings toward his crew

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Despite starting from the back of the pack, the #19 sensation scurried along and moved rapidly up to the 18th spot by the end of Stage 1. However, that momentum disappeared into thin air as moments after Truex had left the pit lane, he felt something wrong with his car.

Truex Jr returned to the pit road to get it checked. After he was good to go, Truex climbed up the groove and was informed by his spotter Drew Herring that he was two laps down. The 43-year-old speedster pulled no punches while being sarcastic. He sighed, “f*****g wonderful!”

In the same interview with Frontstretch, James Small referred to the mishap and said, “…we had to come back on the green for a loose right rear wheel. We’ve stuck down a lot. Fought with that, finally we were able to wave around but just we had gone to the fence again a couple of times…”

Everyone has bad days. And it was one for Martin Truex Jr. But that does not mean there is no rebound. Considering the prowess of Martin Truex Jr. behind the wheels of a stock car, it would not be unnatural to see him buckle up and shock the entire community in the race at Kansas. We are crossing our fingers and urge you to do the same too!

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