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NASCAR Cup Kentucky

Truex admits he 'took away Harvick's chance to win' with contact

Martin Truex Jr. finished second Sunday at Kentucky Speedway after a thrilling last-lap duel for the win.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Jul 13, 2020, 12:19 AM

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Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Ford Mustang and Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry lead the field

Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry

Race Winner Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang

Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang takes the lead in the last lap

Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro, Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang, crash

Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang takes the lead in the last lap

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang

Truex fought from the rear of the field to lead 57 laps Sunday at Kentucky. But after losing the lead for two late restarts and failing to protect the outside at the white flag, he was forced to settle for second place.

In the end it was all about momentum. Truex, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney battled three-wide as the field raced towards the white flag. Behind them, the No. 41 of Cole Custer came charging high and made it four-wide, taking the checkered flag for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

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"Well, I mean, no, I definitely didn't throw it away," said Truex as he reflected on the final restart. "I didn't have the control of the restart on the last one. Really for me, it was most likely probably going to run second just because of the way the restarts are here. When you're on the bottom, it's just not that good.

"Again, it was unfortunate the way we lost the lead. It was just based on the timing lines, when the caution fell on those two restarts, on the first restart where I lost the lead. Second time, I just worked on getting to the 4 car (Harvick). I got inside him. We were side‑by‑side down the frontstretch. The caution falls. He gets the lead by four‑thousandths of a second.

"When you have control of the restart on the outside, it's definitely the best place to be. He was probably going to race if I didn't screw up, which I apologized to him for. He understands. It's the nature of these races. It's all momentum. You got to be in the right lane on the restarts."

Respect for Harvick

Truex felt it was important to go and and speak with Harvick after the race, wanting to make sure he understood that contact between the two, which knocked Harvick from the preferred outside line, was accidental. Truex says he was simply trying to get into the high lane before he got "freight-trained" by Blaney and others.

"I think it's always important to get it out of the way quickly," Truex explained. "I know Kevin well. We've raced together a long time. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Like I said, typically we don't have any issues. I just misjudged getting in behind him. I felt bad about that.

"I think I probably took away his chance to win the race. I just wanted him and (crew chief Rodney Childers) and his guys to know, hey, it's on me, my bad. Can't go back and change it now. Definitely was sorry that I did it.

As for Custer's run, Truex was just about as surprised as those watching when the rookie driver showed up to his outside.

"I didn't hear him, expect him to come. I don't know that my spotter seen it coming. By the time he told me, he was already next to me. There was no way I could even try to block. At the same time I think he had so much momentum, I don't know that I could have blocked him anyway without crashing us both."

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