So far this season, Martin Truex Jr. has run up front each week and led laps, poised to snatch up a victory. There’s one issue, though – he hasn’t found that route to victory lane yet this year.
Coming so close so many times this year is something that Truex admits has been frustrating, however, he is also grateful for how strong they’re running. He used last weekend at Charlotte as a an example. The track is one of his worst tracks, but yet he led laps and finished fifth.
“Last week, to lead the most laps and really again be the car to beat it was an amazing feeling for me,” he said. “I can’t tell you the confidence it gave me after the race. There are just so many angles to look at things from. I think for us it’s important to not lose focus of what we have been able to accomplish so far, what this team is capable of and to just try to keep learning and getting better. So we can close the deal and win some races and hopefully at the end of the year be fighting for a championship.”
He will try again this weekend at Dover, where he will start the race from the outside pole.
“It’s great to be here, it always is,” he commented. “I really enjoy coming up to this area. Obviously I really enjoy running this race track. I’m looking forward to having a great weekend with our Furniture Row Chevy. It’s been a good few weeks for us; it’s been a good season for us. Hopefully, we can continue that here this weekend.”
Truex added that he loves Dover so much due to how the car goes through the corner, and the fact that the driver has to drive it hard every lap versus tracks where you have to lift off or be smooth to be fast.
“I like tracks where you have to drive the car hard,” he continued. “That is kind of always been my style. I don’t like to run 95 or 98 percent; I like to go all out. That kind of suits my style. That is part of the reason why I have always liked this place.”
Truex is hoping this weekend will be the successful ticket based on his past success at Dover. He has run up front at Dover throughout his career, scoring his first Sprint Cup Series victory in 2007. He also notes that he was able to run in the top-10 last year, despite the Funiture Row Racing program being slightly off. He admits that he looked back at the performance and thought, ‘okay, what we can do there now.’
“We will just have to see,” he added. “It’s a different year, times change, the tire is different this weekend than what we had here last year.”
Truex feels despite the differences, he will be able to find the hot ticket set-up for the race based on how much confidence he has in the team, and the cars that they have been producing. The optimism comes from how great his relationship is with crew chief Cole Pearn, something that they’ve built up each week since being partnered together at the beginning of the season. Truex says things have been working great so far with Pearn, crediting the fact that they’re on the same page and have similar personalities.
“I guess he is like my Canadian brother and we just enjoy racing together,” he commented. “We are having a great time. We are really having fun. He works so hard. He is so into it and we are both all in. It’s just been fun to work with him. I’ve learned a lot from him already and I feel like I’ve helped him some as well. It’s just been a good relationship that has provided a lot of success for both of us.”
