Interview
NASCAR Cup Chicagoland
Martin Truex Jr. thinks Hendrick performance gain "just one race"
Martin Truex Jr. doesn’t think too much should be read into Hendrick Motorsports’ rebounding performance Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.
Jim Utter
Edited: Jul 1, 2019, 4:16 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Alex Bowman earned his first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series Sunday as all four HMS drivers finished 11th or higher in the Camping World 400.
Three of the four – Bowman, Jimmie Johnson and William Byron – also took turns leading the race, combining to lead 107 of the 267 laps.
Read Also:
The performance stood out in particular because Joe Gibbs Racing had won 10 of the season’s first 16 races, with teammates Truex and Kyle Busch tied for the series lead with four wins apiece.
Asked after Sunday’s race if he felt Hendrick’s strength was just in that race or a new trend, Truex said: “I think it’s just one race. You look at these things and you come to these tracks now with this package and every track is just so different. I can’t stress it enough how different it is.
“You only get two 50-minute practices and we came here, and we were totally lost for the first whole practice and then two-thirds of the second practice and it’s like, if we had another 30 minutes, we could have been so much better.
“It’s one of those things where all these tracks are so different, and they want just a different package all together that the first time here is hard to hit it. Clearly, (Hendrick Motorsports) hit it out of the park because they were fast right off the truck.”
JGR's forgettable weekend
Sunday’s race was a struggle for JGR.
Busch tagged the wall early in the event and ended up finishing a lap down in 22nd. Truex overcame a slow start to finish ninth. Denny Hamlin had two pit road penalties and finished 15th while Erik Jones got the best result for the organization with a seventh-place finish.
Together, JGR drivers led just six laps in the event.
Truex was also asked if he felt HMS engines had made gains in their performance, since the second-place driver, Kyle Larson, also used an HMS engine.
“It’s so hard to tell engine-wise,” Truex said. “I feel like we’ve been a little off on the straightaways all year long and it shows up qualifying. We qualify 10th to 20th on these types of tracks so we definitely have a little bit to learn there.
“Not sure, it’s hard to say its engines or body or setup. When our cars go through the corners good, we’re as fast as anyone. I don’t know, there’s so many things you can work on with these cars nowadays, it’s hard to know exactly what to do.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Alex Bowman’s win just part of Hendrick Motorsports’ big day
Next article "A little swagger" has gone a long way for Alex Bowman
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
The 'difference' between Kimi Antonelli's F1 title and Lewis Hamilton's according to Toto Wolff
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
The 'difference' between Kimi Antonelli's F1 title and Lewis Hamilton's according to Toto Wolff
Lamborghini facing loss as Grasser Racing Team and star driver eye McLaren switch?
DTM
DTM DTM 29 min
Lamborghini facing loss as Grasser Racing Team and star driver eye McLaren switch?
Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
33 min
Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale
Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 54 min
Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe