CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 99 OUT! Pet Care Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. hopes his successful return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series continues this weekend at the ultrafast Texas Motor Speedway. In his three 2010 starts, the two-time champion owns two top-five finishes and has led 34 laps. The Mayetta, N.J. native finished second at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 25 just 1.137 seconds behind Brad Keselowski. The Diamond-Waltrip Racing team’s first-year sponsor OUT! Pet Care, headquartered in Dallas, calls Texas Motor Speedway its home track.
QUOTES
TRUEX ON RACING IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES AT TEXAS: “What I like about running in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is there is no pressure on me and going into the race this weekend. I know I have a real shot at winning because of the quality of cars we have a Diamond-Waltrip Racing. It’s been a lot of fun working with that team and at Charlotte, we almost won the race. I expect a similar situation heading to Texas because it’s one of my favorite tracks. What I like about Texas is it takes a complete package. You have to have a great motor, a great aero package and a great chassis. Downforce is also important. It is one of the fastest places we go to and you have to like to go fast. That’s what I like about Texas. You spend a lot of time in the throttle and during the race, the key is to get your car turning well.”
ON THE DIAMOND-WALTRIP NATIONWIDE PROGRAM: “The Nationwide program at Diamond-Waltrip Racing is awesome. The cars are always really fast right off the truck. Jerry Baxter and Mike Greci have done a great job fine tuning these cars. I think DWR is one of the top Nationwide teams in the garage. Every time I have been in one of those cars this year, I have had a chance to win. I am really excited about running a few more Nationwide races this season and hopefully grabbing a win or two.”
IF RACING ON SATURDAY GIVES HIM CONFIDENCE FOR SUNDAY: “I think running the race on Saturday gives me a lot of confidence for Sunday. The cars are very different and racing on Saturday doesn’t help you with the car setup for Sunday. However, learning things about the track and understanding where the track goes throughout the Nationwide race gives you a little head start on Sunday. Figuring out which way the track goes during the race gives you a better idea as to where you need to start on Sunday. It’s definitely an advantage but for me I just enjoy driving that car. The OUT! Pet Care Toyota has been running well and they always seem to have a good car for me. Hopefully I can get into victory lane.”
NOTES OF INTEREST
· Gary and Blake Bechtel along with Michael Waltrip Racing own Diamond-Waltrip Racing that fields Toyota Camrys out of the MWR shop in Cornelius, N.C. The Bechtels have owned cars in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series since 1990. The Morgan Hill, California residents’ teams have visited victory lane 10 times in the Nationwide Series.
· Truex won Nationwide Series titles in 2004 and 2005. He became the fifth driver to win consecutive NNS championships, and the sixth to win multiple titles.
· Truex owns 100 NNS starts. He has 13 wins, 10 poles, 39 top-five and 60 top-10 finishes. The Mayetta, N.J. native, has led 1,852 laps of competition and has only scored five DNF (did not finish) in his Nationwide Series career.
· Saturday is Truex’s fourth NNS race at Texas Motor Speedway. He has started all three races from the top 10 and has a finishing average of 18th. His best finish is 10th (April 3, 2004) and he has run 570 of 600 laps of competition (95 percent). His last NNS start at the 1.5-mile track was Nov. 5, 2005.
