Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (July 3, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media after practice at Road America today:
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What was it like for your first laps at Road America?
“It’s fun. I mean this is a really beautiful place and nice part of the country. My first thought yesterday driving here from the airport was “Man it’s really nice up here and I need to find some buddies up here to go deer hunting with.” I saw a few deer on the way here, so beautiful part of the country. The track seems fun so far. It’s a big track, lots of corners, a very technical, very narrow so not a lot of room for error and you have to learn the track in 50 minutes plus caution, so still learning.”
The kink has always been a very part of this track. We’ve seen incidents already today and yesterday. How challenging is that and what is that going to be like for tomorrow’s race?
“It’s a big challenge for sure. I think it’s really about confidence and understanding how much you can get in that corner. Again, it’s very narrow and there’s not a lot of runoff, but there’s a lot of time to be gained there as well. You’re playing that balance act of trying to baby step it and go a little faster each time and hope you don’t try to get too much and overstep it. I was getting faster through there every single time all day, but then I came through there one time and saw the 18 (Kyle Busch) backwards crashed, and it’s like alright, just baby steps, a little bit at a time. I haven’t quite got to where I want to be yet, just needed a little more time out there.”
What was it like seeing him (Kyle Busch) driving backwards?
“I just saw him sitting there when I came around the corner. I was going through the kinks, and you saw the dust and start slowing down and you just hope no one is sitting in the middle of the track and luckily, he was off on the side of the track. Pretty wild when a guy goes off in front of you there and dirt flies everywhere and you can’t see anything, it’s a little bit hairy.”
Can anything be done before tomorrow’s race to alleviate that?
“No, it’s been grass and dirt there for how many years, it’s probably going to stay that way. You just see the cloud of dust. Literally, the last lap of practice, the caution came out and we were coming around slow to come to the pits and we come off of there and you couldn’t see. We slowed down and went way to the right and just hoped no was there or sitting there. It’s pretty crazy.”
You are one of about eight or nine drivers who haven’t raced here. Does that matter?
“I feel a pretty big disadvantage right now honestly. You know, one practice, 50 minutes, I think we made 13,14 laps. That’s not a lot, ins and outs, coming out of the garage, a four-mile road course with 12 tricky turns takes longer than 14 laps to learn. I’m nowhere near where I want to be. I know there’s a lot more speed for me to be had. I know our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry is faster than what I showed today, so now we just try to be smart and pick out the areas where I think we need to make the car better and then not pick the wrong areas where we just need to make me better. It’s a big learning curve right now and I wish we had another practice to be honest with you.”
Do you do extra laps in qualifying to make up for that?
“No, because tire wise you can’t afford to do that. This place is tough on tires. It fell off quite a bit through the runs. We will have to pull out some magic in qualifying. Hopefully, we will get to the second round, where we can improve on the first round. That’s your only hope, so we will see how it goes.”
With it being a new road course, does anyone have an advantage?
“I think it’s the big equalizer. It just depends on who has the most laps here. I think right now it’s going to come down to experience. If you look at Chase (Elliott) and I, we’ve mostly traded off Watkins Glen. We kind of own Sonoma. He’s really good at the Roval. We weren’t quite as good at the Roval. We were really good at Daytona and didn’t show it. CotA, he was really good – we weren’t. That conversation has changed so much because of all of the tracks that we go to now and how different they are. A brand-new place like this, you don’t know. If it was still two road course like it used to be, we would probably trade it back and forth more, but this stuff is challenging, and I look forward to learning this track more and hopefully have a good day tomorrow.”
NASCAR did more testing in the NextGen car. How much is that going to affect your longevity in the Cup Series if you are not crazy about how things go?
“I would say, yes it would. It will, I think and that’s a fair question. I think look at the new car, see what it’s like, go racing, hopefully, it’s fun. Hopefully, I have as much fun as I have driving these things. I love working with my team. I still love racing, but for sure, that’s going to be a big deal. If it’s not fun, I won’t hang around long. I don’t have to do this anymore. I’m still around because I really want to do this and continue to win races and hopefully more championships.”
How have the fans been to you?
“So far really good. I think everybody is excited about this weekend. Obviously, got a great crowd here, lots of camping. Lots of my kind of people up here. It was pretty cool to drive by the Johnsonville plant on the way up here to the racetrack and just a beautiful part of the country. I’ve seen deer up here driving around. I’m having a blast.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands plus our 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.
Through its Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
