NEWS RELEASEToyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
CHARLOTTE (September 3, 2020) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media via videoconference during the NASCAR Playoffs Media Day:
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What is one surprise or dark horse team that you think can make a run in the Playoffs?
“If you want to go with a dark horse, I’ll have to say Cole Custer.”
Interesting choice, why is that?
“I don’t know. I just picked him. I mean, he’s an underdog, right. He’s a rookie. I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t expect a lot of surprises, in general, when it comes to Playoff time. I think the strong teams always rise to the occasion, but you asked me for a dark horse, so I picked my dark horse (laughter).”
This round ends in Bristol. Do you think the aggression level is going to be up?
“I think it has that potential. I think anytime you are at Bristol, it has that potential. I think any cutoff race – it always seems to raise the potential of that, but you think about the All-Star Race being there, and thinking about no points and everybody going for it and it seemed like a pretty tame show. I don’t know. I think if you look at Bristol, it’s hard to predict really what’s going to happen. It depends on a lot of things. It depends on the PJ1, the tires and whether there is a full moon or not, I guess, maybe. We’ve seen Bristol produce a lot of different kinds of races in the last couple years really, and it has the potential to go crazy and it has the potential to be calm. I just don’t know if you can really say what’s going to happen there.”
As you go into the Playoffs, what are you curious to see?
“I’m just focused on our team and what we’ve been doing. I curious to see if we can step it up to that next level. I feel like we can. I feel like we are right there on the cusp of it. You look at what we’ve done the last 10 races, I feel like we have been a top-three car every single race. We’ve had opportunities to win slip away, so hopefully, I look forward to seeing if we can take those seconds, thirds, and fourths and turn them into wins. That’s ultimately what it takes to win the championship. If we can do that, I’ll be happy. That’s what I’m ready to see, and hopefully we will see it soon.”
Is everyone racing for four spots at Phoenix or two given the advantage that Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick have?
“I still think there’s probably at least three open. I mean, there’s no guarantees right. Yeah, those guys are running good. They have a lot of Playoff points and I’ve been in that position before and I think if you are in that position you still understand there’s opportunity that you couldn’t make it. It would be a huge disappointment. It would be a huge surprise if those two didn’t make it for sure, but there’s always outside opportunities, for sure. Yeah, there’s a chance you are only racing for two spots, but again, you never know. I think for us, we go into the Playoffs and feel like, if we win a race every round, then we are set. That’s kind of our mindset.”
Have you and Denny (Hamlin) ever commiserated about last season at Homestead, where you both had fast cars but had things happen and you didn’t win the championship?
“No, we haven’t really talked about it, honestly. It’s water under the bridge. It’s part of racing. Some days it’s your day, some days it’s not. For both of us, it wasn’t . I don’t know if either one of us would even care to talk about it when we didn’t have to. If you know what I mean. It’s one of those things. Yeah, we’ve never talked about it.”
With it being the first Playoffs with James Small on the top of your pit box, how do you think that changes how you maneuver these next 10 weeks?
“I feel good about James and his decision making. I think throughout the year he has gotten stronger, more confident in his decisions. That’s really the key. I feel like he’s a guy that is not going to crack under pressure. That’s really the main point. If you have a guy that is prone to cracking, that’s never a good feeling – ‘when you’re like okay, the cautions came out, what are we going to do. Ahh, well we could do this, or we could do that, or you know.’ I think he’s gotten pretty good throughout the year. I have confidence in him. There’s going to be some chances I’m sure for that to get tested in the Playoffs, but I’m sure he’s going to do a good job with it, and we will see how it goes.”
Do you feel like you are going into Richmond well prepared?
“Yeah, absolutely. I feel really good about it. I’m looking forward to that race. It was unfortunate that we missed out on that first one earlier this year. It’s such a great track to race at. A lot of fun. I feel very confident in our abilities to go there and be competitive, and hopefully, pull off the three-peat. It’s going to be a challenge. With no practice again and going back to the low-downforce package for Richmond that we raced there two years ago, is going to change things up. We will have to be ready for that and prepared. I know it will be a good race, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Is your teammate Kyle Busch capable of making a run at the championship after a terrible regular season?
“Yeah, I would say absolutely. If you look at our organization, how strong it is, and if you look at Kyle, and what he’s been able to do over the years. If they got hot, absolutely. He’s run well enough this year, he’s close. He probably should have a few wins if it wasn’t for crazy things happening as well. It’s definitely a possibility. I would say I’m against it happening (laughter), because I’m hoping I’m the guy that does that, but it’s definitely a possibility.”
As we talk about the 2021 schedule, there has been a lot of discussion about shorter races. What are your thoughts on less 500-mile races?
“In my opinion, there’s just a few races that you just can’t change. Darlington is one of them. There’s the Daytona 500, there’s the Southern 500, there’s the Coke 600, and there’s the Brickyard 400. Those names and numbers go together, right? So, I think absolutely. There’s time for it, and definitely an opportunity for races to be shorter, I think. This year, as tough as it has been and as unfortunate as it has been for so many people and just for all of us really, but especially for the sport to try different things and see how they work. We would have never done no practice, no qualifying ever. It would have not happened if it were not for COVID, and now we are talking about next year, maybe doing some of these weekends. We would have never run shorter races. We would have never run mid-week races. All of these things that were never going to happen, happened this year because of the virus. So as bad as it has been for everybody, there’s been a little bit of opportunity for NASCAR to try things, and I think we have seen shorter races work. We have seen people enjoy those, and we’ve seen mid-week races, and doubleheaders. All of these things that have worked well, so I think the opportunity is there for all of those things to happen in the future, but there is a handful of races that need to stay the length that they are currently.”
How important is capturing momentum in the Playoffs?
“I definitely think it’s a positive thing. I think it’s something that we’ve looked at and feel good about. In racing, consistency is always a big key. Winning a race, getting lucky and winning a race here or there to get in the Playoffs, doesn’t give you a great feeling that you can go win a championship. Running top-three, top-four every week, gives you a great feeling that you can go win a championship. It’s easier to go from second or third to first than it is to go from 15th to 20th to first. It’s a good feeling. I’ve been saving for weeks that I feel really, really good about our team and where we are at right now. I feel as confident as I ever have coming into the Playoffs. So definitely excited about the next 10 weeks and looking forward to making something happen.”
What’s the one trait you need to make it into the Final Four?
“Well, you’ve got to be resilient. There’s going to be times in the Playoffs when your back is against the wall or you need to make something happen. That’s been the case for us throughout the years. Whether it’s been a season where a lot of things have gone right or a season where things have gone wrong. At the end the day, it’s 10 races to get in and you have to be resilient. You are going to face challenges along the way.”
Is this one of the most pressure packed Playoffs for you with the amount of Playoff points that you have?
“I think the first couple rounds you just don’t want to beat yourself. Obviously, as the field narrows down, the cars get stronger and things become more difficult. It’s harder to gain points as you widdle down the field as the stronger guys rise. Granted if we are still one of them, it’s hard to gain. We’ve been in position before. In 2015, we made the Final Four without winning a race. We did it with consistency. We didn’t have a lot of Playoff Points. We’ve been on the other side of it. We’ve had the most and didn’t even need them. That’s what I look at – the years that we were strong, and we were consistent, and we had a lot of Playoff points. We didn’t even have to use them. That’s what gives me confidence. Hopefully, we can repeat that and not need them, but you never know. Certainly, I would feel better to have them because it gives you that thought of ‘hey, we can have a mulligan here or there. If something crazy happens, we can get through it.’ Not having that, it’s tougher to deal with for sure. No question about it.”
How much confidence do you have going into the first round with the previous success you have had there?
“I’ll be honest. Those are a lot of stage points. That’s a really cool thing to hear. But I mean, honestly, I don’t really look at it that way. I just look at these are a couple of tracks where we can win, for sure. It’s time to execute, so let’s go get a win here in the first three.”
What is the one thing that has kept you from the win here in the last few races?
“I guess it depends on which race. There’s been different things here and there. I think at times, we have not been the best car, and at times, we have been. It’s really not just been one thing. I think it’s a combination of things. We’ve had a few races where the strategy has got mixed up a little bit, and we lost control of the race. In a few races, I felt like we probably should have won, but I feel like in general, other than two or three races, we have optimized what we had and ran second or third.”
You ran well at Phoenix and New Hampshire. How critical is it to run good at Richmond to build the notebook for Phoenix?
“I think it’s important to run well with the package, more so, than it’s important to run well at Richmond. I think Richmond and Phoenix are very, very different race tracks. I just don’t see a lot of correlation there, just because Richmond, you talk about high tire wear, high fall off. Phoenix, you don’t really have that. I think it’s a lot different, but I think running well with this package to have confidence with it is obviously huge, a huge deal. Running well at New Hampshire is probably closer resembling to Phoenix and the things you fight there. It feels good to run well. In the spring race, I would say Phoenix is pretty unique mile-type track, and you are probably going to lean on and think about how you ran in the Spring there versus any other tracks. It was good to run well there. We ended up getting run over but that’s part of racing, but we were definitely not good enough to win, so we need to figure out how to find more. We’ve been close there with the low downforce package in the past. We’ve ran second. We’ve ran third. We’ve led some laps here and there, but we’ve never been a dominate car. Hopefully, we will be in the final four and have to figure this out, but it would be nice to figure out how to be the guy to beat there.”
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