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[/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Martin Truex Jr. — Notes & Quotes Richmond International Raceway – April 27, 2012
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Brakes Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing How meaningful will it be when you get your next victory? “I like the way you say it, ‘When I get the next victory,’ but yeah — just really proud to be a part of Michael Waltrip Racing right now and be the driver of the NAPA Toyota. Obviously, we’ve talked the last few weeks about how good the season started off for us as a team and it’s kind of continued here today. Our cars are fast. We were off a little bit with our car, but I feel like we learned a bit throughout practice there to try to get ready for this evening’s qualifying and again tomorrow night. Hopefully, put in a solid run here again this weekend. This is a place where I’ve been close a few times. I felt like we had a car to beat here in the spring race last year and had some trouble on pit road with a loose wheel, so definitely a place where I feel like we can get to victory lane and looking forward to racing here this weekend.”
Do you think you’re back or have you finally arrived in NASCAR? “To be honest, I don’t really care how it’s described. I just feel good about what we’ve been doing as a team. Like you said, since last year we’ve had some really strong runs. The consistency is what really has me ecstatic and looking forward to each weekend. It’s one thing when you go to the race track and you run good every once and while, but when you’re doing it every week — it’s pretty cool. I guess what I meant was I felt like I was the guy to beat. I’ve led laps — we led some laps last year, we led some early in the season — but we never had a car like that where we dominated the race, so I guess that’s what I meant by when I said that and of course if we’d have won the race it would have been a whole lot better. The consistency and being able to run up front each week has really been the icing on the cake for me this season.”
Do you feel like you’re raised the expectations for yourself and Michael Waltrip Racing? “To a point — I feel like we’ve proven that we’re not a flash in the pan. We’re a consistent front-runner — a guy that should be able to contend week in and week out, but again it’s still early and we’ve got a lot of work to do. We understand that it’s early. We understand we can be better as a team. There’s things we can do better still. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what everybody think of us. It matter how good of a job we do and we’re going to keep that in sight and keep working hard.”
Does a sponsor put more emphasis on making the Chase or winning a race? “I don’t know. I think that — I can’t really answer that question. I don’t know exactly. They haven’t said, ‘We need to win, or you need to do this or you need to do that.’ They’ve been happy with the progression of the race team, obviously. We’ve been happy with it too and want to continue to move forward as we’ve been talking about all season. With that being said, I feel like the Chase is very, very important. It’s a big step. It’s a big deal. MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) has never put a car in the Chase yet. It’s a big goal of ours — it has been for the past three seasons, so that would be a huge accomplishment for us as a team. For me personally, I feel like a win is more important. Like you said, it has been a while. I’ve been in position to win numerous times. Crazy things have happened here and there. Last week (Kansas), just didn’t work out for us. So, for me, having those days where I felt like I had the car to beat, I was the best driver out there that didn’t get the win – – for me getting back to victory lane is going to put all those feelings and emotions in check that I had from all those days of them heartbreaking races. So, I just want to get the win out of the way. But, I think for the team, making the Chase is a big deal and if you just get in it you have a shot at winning the championship — and that’s really what we’re all here for. Definitely a big step.”
What is the difference in Michael Waltrip Racing this year compared to previous seasons? “To sit here and point my finger at one or two different things — giving the credit to two or three different reasons would be crazy. There are some many things that go into this. Every area of our company is better. I feel like across the board — the drivers are better, the crew chiefs are better, the communication, better race cars, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is building better engines — really every piece of the puzzle is better this year than it has been in the past too. Again, we talked about momentum from last year. We had a lot — I think we accounted for at least 10 of those top-10s last year. We have three cars that seem to run really well this year, whereas before we had one or two. So, that’s another factor in there. Just can’t say enough about the job everybody’s done at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and the help we get from Toyota. They were instrumental in really turning the program around — the middle part of last year and giving us a good direction to move forward in. Really got to thank those guys and give them a lot of the credit.”
