Indeed, it was a sorry day for Martin Truex Jr. and the number 19 team. Despite having a strong lead throughout the race and appearing to be the clear winner, he ultimately finished in fourth place. The JGR icon was visibly mad at his teammate Denny Hamlin for jumping the restart, but Kyle Larson was the closest guy to take out his frustration on. Larson, however, said that he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward Truex and hopes that Truex feels the same.
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Recalling the situation as he saw it from the driver’s seat, Larson said, “My view was Denny used him up off of (turn) two and just kind of ran him out the racetrack to get the lead… and then he was just kind of falling back on the middle lane there, the 22 got too… he was inside and kind of ran hard into (turn) one… and then I just followed the 22.”
“Martin… I don’t know, if I was inside of him or what, but he just hung a left and hit my right front; had me on the apron, and then turned left on me down the middle of the backstretch. I think ultimately he’s just mad at Denny and I was the closest guy to take his anger out on,” he added.
Right at that moment, Bubba Wallace, who was also involved in the skirmish, walked in and apologized to Larson. Both drivers seemed to be cool with it as Larson smiled and told Wallace, “It’s okay it all worked out for me.” And why wouldn’t it be? After how Larson veered down the apron, things could have gotten a lot worse. Needless to say, Larson was happy with his P3 finish.
Larson shows tremendous respect for Truex
Anyone who has been following NASCAR for some time now will agree to the fact that Martin Truex Jr. is probably one of the fairest drivers out there. He seldom wrecks anyone and prefers to just mind his own business. On that note, Larson admitted having a ton of respect for him.
Ordaining him “the most respected guy in the garage area”, the Chevy star said, “I was surprised when he turned left on me down the backstretch after the checkered. It’s all good. I hope he doesn’t have any hard feelings towards me because I definitely don’t towards him. Like I said, I got a lot of respect for him.”
Thankfully, what Truex said during his own post-race interview was directed toward Denny Hamlin and not Kyle Larson. So one could only assume that Truex is not mad at Larson. And Larson has no issues with Wallace. To conclude, there is no unresolved beef between Larson, Wallace, and Truex as of now. But what about the one between Truex and race-winner Denny Hamlin?
