NASCAR announced that their rear-alignment measurement failures were at minimal levels, meaning that Truex will be able to use his victory Sunday to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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Martin Truex Jr.’s team says its vehicle failed postrace inspection at Chicagoland Speedway Sunday because Kevin Harvick hit Truex’s auto early in the race.
With rookie Chase Elliott appearing to be on the verge of his first Sprint Cup win, Truex was closing ground but admitted that he was unlikely to pass him in the late going.
The race had 17 lead changes among nine drivers and there were four cautions for 22 laps. And that’s when Truex turned up the wick and drove his heart out to get back in contention.
With all but three of the lead-lap cars pitting, Truex restarted fourth and easily snagged the lead from Ryan Blaney for the triumph, his third of the season.
Elliott had a almost two second lead over Martin Truex Jr.in the closing laps.
Truex led early in the race only to have his tire come completely unraveled.
“I’ve had a lot of practice at it”, Truex said about the on-track obstacles. You know today was obviously big win for us but. Just excited for everybody. “I am frustrated by the situations and the actions that came about in respect to all of it”.
Truex’s victory at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway was his third of the season and second in the last three Sprint Cup races. He credits his success, which includes 13 top-10 efforts, to his Furniture Row team that is led by crew chief Cole Pearn. The organization extended its winless streak to 22 races, which NBC Sports said tied the organization’s longest such streak since 1994. Though this year hasn’t been his best, it’s now Chase time and Johnson knows how to find a way to win championships. “Really just trying to focus on what I need to do”. We didn’t have the speed we have now. “We certainly want to take our No. 18 M&M’s/Interstate Batteries Toyota to the winner’s circle”.
Having to pit under green for a flat tire with about 200 laps remaining and then having contact with Kevin Harvick limiting their performance, Truex put himself in position to win when a late caution resulted in a two-lap dash to the finish. They continued to pit with the leaders and never attempted a risky move like taking a wave around.
“The mindset was, all right, this isn’t good, this is bad”, he said.
Given his struggles at Chicagoland recently, I don’t blame anyone for wanting to avoid Biffle this weekend, especially when there are drivers priced under $7,000 with similar numbers.
“We don’t want somebody going to (the championship round) having a vehicle that’s going to have a half-inch of extra skew in it during the race or after the race just to go out and win, so I think the rule is where it needs to be”, he said.
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Johnson was the best on long runs overall during practices, but Kevin Harvick was right behind him and actually had the best 10-consecutive lap average during Saturday’s early session. Just kept me pushing, just kept my head down, kept digging.
