NASCAR Cup Homestead
Martin Truex Jr.: "It's been one of those years"
Martin Truex Jr.’s rocky 2022 season hit another bump Sunday which may have cost him a shot at a win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Jim Utter
Edited: Oct 23, 2022, 11:53 PM
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Truex has yet to win a race this season but still managed to finish fourth in the regular season standings. However, due to the rash of winners this season, he was left out of the 16-driver playoffs.
On Sunday, Truex appeared to be in a good position to earn a victory and extend his streak of consecutive seasons with a win to eight. But again, bad luck and bad timing intervened.
Truex was leading the race when Tyler Reddick spun off Turn 4 and wrecked on Lap 245 of 267 which brought out a caution.
All the lead-lap cars elected to pit, and as Truex and Kyle Larson – who was running second at the time – entered pit road, Truex suddenly slowed as he neared his pit stall.
Larson, caught off guard, got into the back of Truex’s No. 19 Toyota, spun him around and Truex luckily ended up in his own team’s pit stall.
Larson ended up being the first car off pit road with the race lead and went on to secure the victory. Truex lost several positions due to the mishap and rallied in the final 17 laps to finish sixth but with his chance at victory gone.
NASCAR race control almost immediately indicated it would review the incident but eventually determined nothing was done intentionally.
Truex admitted he was a little late turning into his pit box but also thought Larson could have done a better job in avoiding him.
“It’s really hard to see through these windshields right now with the sun like that and all the stuff covering it. I did see my box late for sure, so I slowed down before I turned out of the way of (Larson) there,” Truex said.
“Obviously (that’s) partly on me. I didn’t expect to get turned around. I’m glad nobody got hurt there.”
Larson agreed the visibility issue played a role in the incident.
“I don’t know if fans and people realize, when you’ve got debris all over your windshield, the sun is shining straight in your face, it’s hard to see your stall,” he said.
“So, hate that that happened. He was definitely the one I was going to have to beat. He was really good that last long run, too.”
For Truex, it was hard to mask his disappointment after the race.
“To have a good day going like that and have a shot at winning and couldn’t close the deal. I hate it for my team,” he said. “It’s been one of those years.
“We’re going to keep digging. We’re going to win a bunch of races. We’ve just got to get through this rough patch.”
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