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[/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Martin Truex Jr. — Notes & Quotes Dover International Speedway – June 1, 2012
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing How do you feel about where you are at this point in the season? “I’m obviously excited to be here at Dover. I love this track. Our car has been good throughout the day — throughout the season — our NAPA Toyota’s been fast. Everybody knows this is kind of my home track. I love coming here and looking forward to having a chance to put the NAPA Toyota in victory lane this weekend.”
Why do you love Dover so much? “Since the first time I came here, I’ve really enjoyed the race track. I’ve just always loved it. I’ve always been fast here. Obviously, winning Nationwide races and winning my first Cup race here — all those things make it special. I can remember making my first-ever Nationwide start here in a car that we built at my Dad’s shop up in New Jersey — like three of us put together and we qualified I think 10th, or something. This place has just always been special to me. It’s always been a place where I’ve been able to come to no matter what the circumstances — how my season’s been going, how the team is doing, all that stuff — I’ve always been able to come here and run well. And so, it’s just a place that I really enjoy. I’m not really sure what it is about the place that makes me good here, but I just really love it and I think that’s a big part of it.”
What are the challenges at Dover? “This is one of those places that’s really difficult to get your car balanced good, and we heard Carl (Edwards) talking about it before — when you’re loose, it’s really, really hard to hang onto your car and make good time. This place is very, very unforgiving. You really have to be ahead of the car at all times. The corner starts on the straightaway. If you don’t get in the corner just right, the rest of the corner it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. The biggest challenge here is just the transition from the straightaway to the corner where the car really takes a hard set in landing into the banking. If you can keep the car from being too loose there, but keep it turning good the rest of the corner, that’s really the key. It’s very difficult to do that. If you’re off an inch in your entry, you’re off six inches in the middle of the corner and you’re off two feet on the exit. You’re constantly trying to stay ahead of the car, which is very difficult here because it’s so fast and things are happening so fast.”
Will you fill in for your brother Ryan if he needs you? “You see where he’s at? Do you see where he’s at right now? Top of the board. He’s pretty amazing. He sat out — what is the last time he ran — it’s been a month or so ago. He’s sitting on the sidelines waiting for another chance. Of all places to come to when you’ve been sitting at home — to come to Dover and jump in the car and try to be fast and right to the top of the board. It’s pretty awesome to see that. He’s good here. Hopefully, he’ll have a shot at winning this weekend. He needs to do that. It would awesome.”
