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NASCAR Cup Darlington

Truex says with choose cone, "we might have had five wins right now"

Martin Truex Jr. is proof that nice guys do finish first.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Sep 3, 2017, 7:14 PM

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Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota lead the field at the start of the race

Start: Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet leads

Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota

Start: Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford, Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota lead

Start: Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota leads

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, the field parked on pit road for a rain delay

Start: Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota leads

The field turns in to pit road

Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota, Erik Jones, Furniture Row Racing Toyota, restart, Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota currently leads the Monster Energy Cup Series standings. He's won four races this season and is the defending winner of Sunday’s Southern 500.

But Truex has learned not to be a doormat when it comes to his fellow competitors — particularly at a track such as Darlington Raceway since NASCAR introduced double-file restarts in 2009.

“It’s a lot different,” said Truex, who will start second alongside polesitter Kevin Harvick on Sunday. “Everywhere we go now is a lot different with double-file restarts. It makes winning – not just racing — harder, but it makes winning a lot harder than it was when it was single-file, just because of the unknowns of the double-file restarts and getting the right lane and getting the right push and there’s so many unknowns that come into those and then here throughout the race especially if you’re not on the front row.

“It’s really challenging to just try to get through (Turns) 1 and 2 and get off Turn 2 double-file is challenging, so just trying to stay off of people really off of (Turn) 2 is tough enough. It’s kind of what you try to do and get single file down the back.”

With the added challenges Darlington presents, particularly when the field enters the narrow end of the 1.366-mile track on the restarts, Truex isn’t afraid to adopt a take-no-prisoners attitude on restarts. A timid approach can cost a driver significant track position.

“You have to be a jerk everywhere,” Truex said. “Double-file – you try to give and take, but most guys just take and it depends on the situation you’re in as well, you know? If you have a spot where you need two or three inches to clear a guy, it’s kind of a gentleman’s agreement on a restart that most people give you that two or three inches or six inches, but if it’s more than that you’re going to stick it in there and you’re going to stay on the gas and hopefully not wreck.

“Yeah, I mean, you know who you’re racing with and some guys have certain tendencies and you know there’s certain guys where you can stick it out there and certain guys you probably shouldn’t.”

Choose cone rule in NASCAR

While some have suggested using a cone at the end of pit road signaling the point where drivers would have to choose a lane, others believe the move would weaken the entertainment factor of double-file restarts.

Truex believes a cone rule would be great. Although he’s currently not in the drivers’ council, he’s heard a lot of his peers advocate for the use of a cone.

“I go back to Michigan-1 and we had the car to beat by quite – I mean, we were so fast,” Truex said. “We passed the leader three or four different times and, you know, we got off on pit sequence and we were like fourth or fifth and every single restart the last four or five restarts of the race I think we got the bottom lane and every time we’d lose two or three spots and you’re – it absolutely takes you out of the shot to win, you know?

“It completely took our chance away to win there, so having the cone rule and picking the outside we might have had five wins right now and that happened at a few race tracks this year, so I think it’s a good thing. I think the drivers are all in favor of it because you can kind of control your destiny just a little bit more, so typically when we can do that the fans and NASCAR kind of vote the other way, so we’ll see how it goes, but I would definitely be in favor of it.”

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