Martin Truex Jr. crew chief on finish: 'It was a bummer'
Oftentimes, being the leader late in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race when the caution flag flies is not the preferable position to be in.
Martin Truex Jr. knows that all too well after Saturday night's Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Truex's No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the dominant car for most of the night, leading on six different occasions for the race-high total of 141 laps.
He was still in the lead when the yellow flag waved on Lap 289 of the 334-lap event, making it decision time on whether or not to pit for fresh tires. Truex wavered, then stayed out â explaining later that there was some confusion between the driver and his crew chief, Cole Pearn.
"Cole called me in at the last second," Truex said. "Our plan was to stay out. He called me in at the last second, and I didn't want to hit the (pit-road commitment) cone (which would have resulted in a costly penalty). It's just the way it goes."
Most of the rest of the contenders pitted behind him. As usually is the case, the cars behind the leader did exactly the opposite of what the leader chose to do â or at least was forced to do when the call came too late for Truex to comfortably swing his Toyota onto pit road for fresh rubber.
"I was hoping more cars would have stayed out, but when you have the dominant car that's the only chance they have to beat you," Pearn said. "By staying out and leading, we felt that having clean air would be an equalizer. But in that situation it's easier to make the call when you're running second and not first. We've seen this happen many times in NASCAR when the race leader is sometimes in a no-win situation."
Truex continued to lead for a while longer. But when another caution came out shortly thereafter, he was a sitting duck as the cars all around him had much fresher tires without having to give up track position and come to pit road.
On the final restart with 33 laps to go, Truex, starting on the inside of the front row, could not hold the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Kyle Busch, who started beside him on the outside. Busch surged to the lead and went on to win the race, while Truex faded to sixth by the finish despite obviously having the best car of the night.
"By the time we finally got moving there, we just didn't have the grip everybody else had," said Truex, who has not won since at Pocono last June, 29 races ago. "We were just sliding around. It's frustrating, but that's racing.
"That's the way it goes sometimes. I'm proud of my guys for the race car they brought. That thing was so fast all night, we did everything we were supposed to do except for that one deal there. I don't know. It hurts, it's tough, but we have a lot to look forward to this year. We have great race cars and we have a lot to look forward to. We'll go back home and get to work and hopefully come out smarter and stronger."
But after a night when the No. 78 Toyota led the most laps and was the class of the field, Pearn summed it up best.
"It was a bummer to finish where we did," Pearn said.
