In the closing laps, Martin Truex Jr. was running just inside the top-ten and one point above the cut-line when he was shoved out of line, four-wide — dropping him down the running order. On the following restart, he was among those collected in a pile-up entering the esses, forcing him to pit for repairs and fresh tires.
Truex was only able to drive back up to 20th in overtime and leaves Watkins Glen 14 points below the cut-line despite winning the opening stage.
“You get green-white-checkered at the end of the race, and you know people are just going to drive through someone. We were in the wrong lane, on the short end of the stick as usual," said Truex, visibly frustrated by yet another race where misfortune followed him. "We were in a decent spot there with our Camry, and you go through the esses, and they just plow through you and put you in the marbles. This racing is just ridiculous.”
The 2017 NASCAR Cup champion is known as one of the cleaner drivers on the grid. He was beside himself over the lack of etiquette in the middle of the field, which has been an issue in late-race restarts at other road courses.
"Just crazy that all these races always come down to this," said Truex in some more post-race comments. "I just don't really understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races. It's very frustrating, but it is what it is these days. I'm out of here."
It was a difficult day overall for Joe Gibbs Racing. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin were collected in a Lap 1 wreck, with Hamlin wrecking a second time later on. Bell ended up being the highest-finishing JGR driver in 14th while the rest were 20th or worse. Ty Gibbs leaves Watkins Glen on the bubble, just six points up on none other than teammate Hamlin.
It's looking likely that at least one JGR driver could see their playoffs end next weekend in the Round of 16 elimination race. For Truex, this is his last chance at another title before retiring from full-time racing, but he enters the race with seven straight finishes of 20th or worse.
