Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
NASHVILLE (June 19, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media prior to the Nashville race weekend earlier today:
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
First impressions of the track today in practice?
“It’s a racetrack, you know. It’s fun to be back in Nashville. It’s been fun so far. The car wasn’t very good. We were struggling out there a bit so definitely different than I anticipated and different than what I remember here. It feels really slow, really greasy, just really slick and hard to find any grip. I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I’ve been here, not surprised that it’s that different.”
Are you concerned as a group with only two Toyota’s in the top 10 and two in the top 20?
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t talked to the other guys so far, so it’s hard to say. For us, we’re a little worried. We’re about to do some wholesale changes, so we’ll see. Definitely not a good practice.”
Any consolation that this track really doesn’t translate to other tracks?
“Yes and no. I think every race is important points wise, especially within the playoffs, bonus points, points position, all of that, so they are all important, they all matter. We obviously don’t want to throw any of them away.”
You have success at the playoff tracks, but the performance, and there could be other reasons for the performance, hasn’t been there the last few weeks. How much of a concern is that or is there a need to try some different things because you know what you guys can do at the playoff tracks?
“That’s kind of a loaded question. There’s so many different ways to look at it. Obviously, we are happy we’ve had success at the playoff tracks this year, but we aren’t happy that lately things haven’t been going well. Aside from Sonoma, it’s been a bit of a struggle. At the same time, it’s really hard to try a lot of things to find a lot of things. You look at this 50-minute practice. It’s not a whole lot of time. We are running out of time just trying to change things before tech. The trying stuff is really difficult to do without potentially throwing away a whole weekend. We’re trying our best. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you miss it. That’s kind of the way it goes. As a company, we obviously know we need to find more speed and I know we’re always working on that.”
How do you find more speed with limited practice, two laps of qualifying and no changes after qualifying?
“It’s difficult. I think we need to find more speed during the week before we show up at the racetrack. Lately here we’ve been off a little bit there, so some free speed during the week with aero stuff and engine stuff would be great. The set-up stuff is hard to figure out when you only have an hour, or no practice. You kind of go with what you know there.”
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