He didn’t quite have the best car or the dominating car, but Martin Truex Jr. was there at the end in case Kyle Larson would happen to make a mistake and leave an opening.
Truex Jr had a decent car at Dover International Speedway, taking the lead away from his teammate Denny Hamlin on Lap 229. It would be the only time that Truex was out front. When he took the Stage 2 win, one of the No. 19 pit crew members slipped while coming around to change the right rear tire. The stop would eventually cost Truex the race win.
It caused Truex to lose a couple of spots on pit road. It was just enough and he was unable to take the lead from Larson and challenge him for the race win. He did have a little bit of help in the late stages but he ultimately fell short and wound up second.
“Just ran out of time there,” Truex Jr told MRN Radio. “Got bobbled up in traffic pretty good and so did the 42 (Larson). We just really ran out of time. We were six seconds back after the pit stop. At the end, we were maybe one. We did a good job of gaining on them but it’s always gaining on the leader but a harder time with the lap guys. The same thing being said, I caught some at the end and they weren’t very courteous. It’s just the way it goes.”
“We had a very fast car, our Bass Pro Toyota was strong. We had a shot at winning for sure. It’s the playoffs, it’s the best of the best and one little tiny mistake like that, five positions or whatever on the restart, it’s game over. I hate that it happened, but I know our guys are working hard to get it cleaned up. Overall, it was a really good points day. Just go to Talladega next week and hopefully, we can at least make it to the finish, which we haven’t been good at there. I’m feeling good going forward and looking forward to Kansas as well.”
The second-place finish was Truex’s 13th top five of the season.
