“Definitely Had the Best Car”: Martin Truex Jr. Laments Missed Opportunity to Seal NASCAR Playoff Spot

The late-race caution that Kyle Busch’s spin set up in Kansas on Sunday changed the fate of many. Amongst those who were negatively impacted was Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. The former champion had been hunting down his teammate Denny Hamlin from second place when the caution came. His belief is that he could have caught up and won if it weren’t for the overtime restart.

When the cars came into the pit roads for the restart, many chose to go with a two-tire change. But Truex opted for a four-tire change and picked up from 10th place. While he managed to get past many contenders from there, the speed on his #19 Toyota Camry XSE could only get him as far as fourth place. He was understandably frustrated at his tough luck.

He told Fronstretch, “I don’t know, just frustrating. We were looking really good until that last caution, as always. I don’t know what we need to do to close one out, but the guys did a good job with our Auto-Owners Camry. We were in position to steal one there. Definitely had the best car…” Continuing, he noted that the decisions the team took made his Camry even better.

Crew Chief James Small echoes Martin Truex Jr.’s sentiments after Kansas misfortune

The race was the second time this season that Truex appeared poised for the win only to have a caution foil his plans. The first was when he lost the lead to Hamlin on a late restart in the Richmond Raceway. The situation was different then but the emotion of losing something within hand’s reach remained the same. James Small vented out his frustration on it to the media.

“Yeah, no doubt, we were gonna win the race for sure,” he said to Frontstretch. “It’s just another race with a late-race caution that we kind of get screwed by, but it is what it is.” Small was caught in dreams of how the day could’ve turned out if he’d gone for a two-tire change… If Hamlin had caught them slack and let Truex through quicker… If there’d been another lap. Unfortunately, he can only dream now.

The #19 team’s next opportunity to win and fix a spot in the playoffs will come in the Darlington Raceway. After the one third mark of the season, Truex has four top-5 and seven top-10 finishes. Surely, it’s only a matter of time before he finds his way to the victory lane.