Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to the media at Dover International Speedway:
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
What is your outlook at Dover this weekend?
“It’s always good to come here. It’s my home track, I love coming up to this race track for a lot of reasons. Of course, being close to home is always neat, but a lot of friends and family come to this race, so it’s always neat to see them. Most importantly, I love the race track. Our cars have been fast this year and I’m looking forward to hopefully going back to victory lane, that’s what it’s all about, that’s what we’re here for. I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
How do you overcome instances like you experienced last week at Kansas?
“It’s a lot easier than if you weren’t fast and let one slip away and felt like your chances or the opportunity would be hard to get again or it was going to take a while to get that opportunity again. It’s definitely easier when you’re running good and you feel like every time you show up at the race track there’s an opportunity, you can get up there and lead some laps and have a shot at winning. It definitely helps.”
How has your girlfriend Sherry Pollex been doing after recovering from cancer and her “Sherry Strong” push?
“There’s a lot going on with that, ‘Sherry Strong,’ the website launched just a few days ago this week. Sherry is really excited about it, it’s really interactive and there’s going to be some things to help women understand what she dealt with and how to deal with it. The OVA1 test is something that she’s really trying to get the word out about. Not a lot of people know about it and it’s an early detection test for ovarian cancer, it’s very important for women. There’s a lot of things going on with that. She’s really been working hard since she’s gotten better and been feeling good, it’s been a while now. She’s working hard to spread the message and help other women to hopefully not go through what she did because there was an opportunity for her to catch it earlier and not go through so much. Really proud of what she’s doing, it really means a lot to her. She’s the kind of person that thinks of others no matter what situation she’s in and this is no different. She’s been working hard on that for quite a while and this is something she’s really proud of. It will be interesting to see how many people she can help and hopefully really change the dynamic of how women are diagnosed. For us, the biggest thing was when she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer, we were both like, ‘What the hell is that?’ That’s the scary part. Hopefully someday in September you’ll see everything teal like you do with breast cancer month with all the pink ribbons and you know what it means – hopefully someday the teal ribbons will be out there in September and we’ll get the word out and spread the message. Hopefully no one will have to go through what she did.”
How do you approach racing and passing at Dover?
“It’s definitely different how you approach the race track. You still setup passes really the same way, you look for a guy’s weakness in front of you for where he’s running on the race track and you try to figure out what your options are and how I’m going to make it happen. It could be different, but for the most part it’s still all about figuring out how to get around the corner faster than the guy in front of you. It’s funny, you think about this place and it’s somewhat two-groove. Sometimes guys get the high side rolling, but typically when you get a run on somebody or you pass somebody it’s because they slipped. Because you’re so on edge here, there’s more opportunities to pass because most guys want to run the same line. It’s really hard to get your car running right, get your car doing the things you want to run that one lane. Opportunities are when guys slip and make mistakes.”
How do you think the changes to the All-Star Race will play out?
“I really don’t have any idea. It’s – we’re going to have to see. I mean, there’s so many questions. What’s the tire going to be like? Is there going to be a lot of fall off, a little fall off? All those things. When we talk about the I don’t know what you call it at the end where guys are going to have to pit, some guys are going to have to stay out, it’s all going to really matter what the tire does, so if the tire falls off a lot that last 10 laps where the top-10 have to pit or whatever it is – I’m not sure exactly even how it’s going to work yet – but that’s going to get exciting at the end with guys running for their lives on old tires and guys trying to get to the front on new tires, so that’ll be fun if the tires are right. Just not really sure what it’s going to be like yet, so we’ll have to wait and see, but the All-Star Race is always exciting. I’m looking forward to being a part of it again this year and hopefully it will be a lot of fun for everybody.”
Do drivers need incentives to keep going for wins after their first victory?
“I don’t know. I mean, I think all of us are here to win no matter what the circumstances, no matter where you’re at in points, no matter how long you’ve been here. I mean, it’s – to win Cup races is really, really difficult. It’s really important I think to all of us – that’s why we’re here. I don’t know that you have to say, ‘Ah, he’s got points. He doesn’t care.’ I don’t think that’s the case. I think you see guys actually taking more chances now trying to win because they have that secure Chase spot. I mean, you look at Denny Hamlin last week. He’s got a win. He’s running – he ran what? Fourth, fifth, sixth all night. He ran pretty good, but he seen that opportunity towards the end of the race, he stuck it in the middle three wide and wrecked three cars because he had that secure spot. Had he not had a win, he wouldn’t have done that, so you could play both sides of the argument. You could say, ‘Well, guys aren’t trying as hard,’ or you could also say, ‘Well, guys are willing to risk a lot more now,’ so there’s two ways of looking at it, but I think the bottom line is everybody wants to win. Racing is – whether we’re racing for five dollars or five million dollars, I think guys are going to hang it out there and try to get a win, so I think that’s certainly our outlook, but everybody has their own opinions and it is what it is.”
What changes have you seen in the racing at Dover over the last 10 years?
“Well there’s been a lot of changes over the years to the cars and the tire and this track has changed some itself. Even though it’s concrete and they typically hold up really well, we’ve seen some bumps come and go and it’s been ground years ago and so it’s definitely changed. I think the biggest changes are always to the tires and the downforce levels and the bodies and things like that. We’ve been through a few generations of race cars, so a lot has changed, but Dover is still Dover. It’s like going to Bristol – it’s one of those places that you always fight the same problems, you really always approach it the same way and it takes kind of a different driving style to get around it than most tracks you go to.”
How do the changes to the SAFER barriers and pit stalls impact the race?
“Pit stalls – that’s a big deal – enlarging them, making them just that few extra feet could make all the difference. It’s always been a really tight pit road, difficult to get in and out of your box especial if there’s some in front and behind you – not a lot of room for the pit crews to do their work, so it’s definitely going to be a big help, give us a little bit more room. The SAFER barriers are a good addition everywhere obviously. I think as we get down the road here every single piece of wall that you could possibly hit on a race track is going to be SAFER barrier, so it’s a good thing, good upgrade and it should help us all.”
