DENVER (Sept. 24, 2014) — While Martin Truex Jr. might not be overjoyed with finishes of 14th and 12th in the last two Sprint Cup Series races, eight or half of the 16-driver Chase field would welcome the 62 points that the Furniture Row Racing driver accrued in Chicago and New Hampshire.
After Sunday’s AAA 400 race at Dover International Speedway, the Chase field will be reduced from 16 to 12 drivers. Sitting No. 8 in the Chase standings is Matt Kenseth, who earned 57 points in the first two playoff races.
“We’re still not where we want to be, but the last two weeks have been gratifying, coming back from two laps down in each race,” said Truex.
“Hopefully what we have seen out of our Furniture Row team continues to be a positive sign for the future and we can be one of those Chase teams next season.”
Truex, who hails from Mayetta, New Jersey, calls Dover his home track. The one-mile all-concrete oval carries a special fondness for the 33-year-old driver who scored his first career Sprint Cup victory at the June 2007 Dover race. Truex’s sixth-place finish at this year’s June race was his best result of the season.
“As we did the past two weeks, we fought hard at the last race in Dover,” noted Truex. “We weren’t perfect but we managed to get our Furniture Row Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet up front. There’s something about Dover that’s good to me. Maybe it’s home field advantage.”
Truex added, “I’ve said it many times that I like the speed at Dover. Of all the tracks we go to Dover probably feels the fastest to drive on and I like that. The speed can be pretty scary at times. I have more fans and family at the race than any other track we go to, which adds to the excitement.”
Truex, who is in his first season with Furniture Row Racing, can still vividly recall his first Cup victory.
“It was the first time we went to Dover with the COT (Car of Tomorrow),” said Truex about the June 2007 Dover race. “We weren’t very good in Friday’s practice and didn’t qualify well (26th). I was disappointed about that – you never want to qualify badly.
“We started practice on Saturday and weren’t very good again. Then it happened. We made one big change to the car and that was it. I knew then that we hit on the setup. I told my crew chief that the car was perfect and went to bed that night feeling we had the car to beat.”
Truex’s prediction came to fruition with a dominant performance – a 7.355-second margin of victory over his close friend Ryan Newman.
