Martin Truex Jr. is a proven NASCAR Cup Series champion with three runner-up points finishes since then, but this year will be his last chance to become a multi-time Cup champion. Even after winning the regular season title in 2023, it seems only misfortune has followed him.
"Just a little bit frustrated with how things have gone lately," said Truex at Watkins Glen. No matter what we do, it is wrong, and we can’t catch a break. It has been frustrating, but the guys are working hard and a big weekend here. This is a good place for me, and I love coming up here. We put a lot of effort in, so we will see how it turns out this weekend.”
Still winless and already in jeopardy of elimination after just one playoff race, he's desperately hoping to turn things around this weekend. The bad news is that he enters The Glen 19 points below the cut-line, but the good news is that he qualified on the front row. But does he consider himself in a must-win situation yet?
"I really don’t know," he admitted. "We will just have to see. It is obviously a bit of a hole to dig out of, so it is unfortunate last week that we got caught up in that and got some damage. I don’t know. We will just have to wait and see. We are going to try to win, but I think we will know more after this weekend is over.”
Looking for a little luck
Truex's precarious position has nothing to do with a lack of speed, as he pointed out this weekend. He's led nearly 500 laps this year, but pit road penalties, unforced errors, wrecks, and bad luck seems to plague him everywhere he goes.
“It is a lot of different things," he explained. "You call it a slump — great players get in slumps in other sports, and that is what I feel like it is. I feel like we are doing a lot of good things — we have lot of speed and put ourselves in position, we just have to put it all together. Some days I make mistakes, some days the team makes mistakes, some days — last week we got caught up in an accident. There has been a lot of that. Just have to put it together on one day and hopefully that is this weekend.”
Watkins Glen is a track that has always been good to him. In truth, Truex has had a knack for road course racing since the early days of his career. He's won four Cup races at Sonoma with three different teams and was also victorious at Watkins Glen in 2017. In the last six races here, he has four finishes of third or better.
“I feel really good about it, honestly," said Truex. We should be able to perform well here, and I’m excited. It is going to be interesting this weekend with tires that they’ve brought and the fall off that everyone is taking about. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Can we pass — say we don’t qualify great — but we have a good long run car, can we make our way though the field? It is not something that we’ve been able to do with these cars on the road courses in a while. I’m excited about it and I’m looking forward to having the opportunity this weekend and going to have some fun at a place I like.”
Racing his playoff rivals, and those with nothing to lose
Truex is starting between two drivers who are only focused on winning. There's pole-sitter Ross Chastain, who is notoriously aggressive and just missed out on the playoffs for the first time in three years. Directly behind MTJ is three-time Supercars champion and road racing ace Shane van Gisbergen, Just another row back is A.J. Allmendinger, who is running a part-time Cup schedule like SVG this year, and is a former winner at Watkins Glen like Truex. Juan Pablo Montoya is also present, but he starts very deep in the pack. None of these drivers care about points and there are many others like them throughout the field.
“That is the hard part when you race with those kind of guys," said Truex, speaking of so-called 'ringers' in the field. "For the most part, everyone is respectful of the situation and those guys have enough experience to know not to run someone over that is maybe fighting for a playoff spot or a championship or so. They all have a lot of experience — they are great drivers, and it is not like they are new to this. You play it a little safe around them, and don’t put yourself in a bad situation because they are going to be aggressive for sure.”
Truex's first goal on Sunday will be stage points as he tries to chip away at the margin to the cut-line. Since points aren't a priority for those immediately around him (Chastain and Van Gisbergen), it is likely they will stop just short of the end of the 20-lap stages in favor of gaining track position later, clearing the way for Truex to potentially win the stage -- unless bad luck pays him another untimely visit yet again.
