Martin Truex Jr.: “I have no idea how we finished fourth”

Martin Truex Jr. overcame plenty of obstacles on Sunday, but still managed to finish in the top five and advance to the Championship 4.

Truex was in the lead for the majority of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday, but he never seemed to match his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin’s speed.

Truex, on the other hand, was in a considerably more precarious point situation than Hamlin, and needed every possible position to contend for the 2021 season championship next weekend in Phoenix.

Truex appeared to be beset by problems as the intensity among the playoff drivers increased in the final 50 or so laps – he was knocked into the wall one lap by Kurt Busch, he had water spewing out of the front of his No. 19 Toyota at one point, and a large piece of sheet metal caused a tire rub on his left-front tire.

On the last two-lap restart, Truex appeared to be in danger of squandering his championship hopes, as he was forced to pit to allow his team to repair some of his damage.

However, as the majority of riders ahead of him took the bottom lane, Truex chose the top to move up the running order and hung on to finish fourth.

For the final position in the Championship 4, he beat Kyle Busch by three points.

“I have no idea how we finished fourth, honestly,” Truex said. “I’m going to buy a lottery ticket on the way home. It’s never an easy situation to be kind of on your last run of the race, be in (the Championship 4) one minute and out the next.

“You know there’s not a whole lot you can do other than drive. Worrying about it doesn’t do you any good. You just got to try to go, hit your marks, get the most out of your race car. Luckily, we were able to do that.”

Truex noted that while he was mostly focused on his own race throughout the day, he saw an opportunity to gamble as drivers began to choose their final restart lane.

“Everybody took the bottom (lane) and I saw the hole up there (on the top lane) and I was like, ‘I have to go for it,’ and that worked out for us,” he said. “Just thanks to everybody who helped us all year long to get us to this point.

“Hopefully, we can go to Phoenix and make them proud.”

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