“Third Place is Just Where We’re at Right Now”: Martin Truex Jr Reflects on Daytona Race

The NASCAR road course race at Daytona has officially concluded with Chase Elliott clinching the win. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Admittedly, Truex Jr is delighted with a 3rd place finish, largely because of what transpired in the race.

As it turned out, he copped a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, so he dropped well down the order. However, once he served the penalty, he smashed the ‘Comeback’ button. I

n a sense, he scythed his way up the order right from the back of the pack within the span of 20 laps.

Naturally, he is fairly proud of his achievement, though he would have loved to have more time on his hands. If that was the case, he could have potentially troubled the race leaders for the victory.

He told FOX Sports, “All in all, it was a decent day. It seems like third place is just where we’re at right now.”

He even wrote on Twitter, “Strong run for us. Definitely had a shot to win, but didn’t get it done. Proud of how we’re running right now, just need to be 2 spots better.”

What happened to Martin Truex Jr during the race?

Starting from 3rd place, many considered Truex to be a dark horse since he had one of the strongest cars. In addition to that, he has also raced at the Daytona road course before.

Strategy-wise, Truex and crew elected to sacrifice a Stage 1 win and pitted at the end of the opening stage. He and the team performed a similar tactic when Stage 2 reached its conclusion.

Unfortunately, things unraveled for Martin Truex Jr, as he was caught speeding in the pits. Since the pit lane was closed, he had to serve an end-of-the-longest-line penalty during the final stage.

However, he refused to let the penalty get to him and was a man-on-a-mission. In his mad rampage to the finish line, Truex led around 10 laps, before settling for a fifth-straight third-place finish.

ALSO READ- Martin Truex Jr Could be a Dark Horse at Daytona Road Course Cup Series Race