Respectable run slows in closing laps
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (July 27, 2014) – Martin Truex Jr.’s respectable performance in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 took a wayward turn during the final green flag run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Truex, who ran consistently in the top-15 and at times nudged his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS into the top-10, fell back on the final restart (Lap 143 of 160), slipping to a 25th-place finish in the 20th anniversary of the prestigious Sprint Cup event.
“The car didn’t feel the same at the end,” said Truex. “We were making gains throughout the race but something didn’t click at the end and that was costly for our Furniture Row team.”
Truex was positioned in 13th place on Lap 90 and 12th on Lap 100. When he came in for the final pit stop (two right-side tires and fuel), he was listed as 20th on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s new, colorful scoring pylon.
The Furniture Row driver, who picked up 10 positions during the green-white-checkered finish two weeks ago in New Hampshire, was not able to duplicate the incredible feat.
“I was hoping to make a move as we did in New Hampshire, but it wasn’t to be,” noted Truex. “We’re picking away at this and we’ll get it. It’s taking longer than we had anticipated.”
Truex dropped one position in the point standings to 24th. He is one point behind AJ Allmendinger (23rd) and nine points ahead of Kurt Busch (25th).
The race had four cautions for 16 laps and 15 lead changes among nine drivers.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is Sunday, Aug. 3 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
