Martin Truex Jr. was pushing hard in the final run at Nashville Superspeedway trying to catch Ross Chastain, but there were too many wrong circumstances for it to matter.
A second-place finish is what Truex left the Ally 400 with, feeling he needed to be the leader in the run to the finish to have a shot at winning. But once Truex had lost the top spot midway through the race, it changed the complexion of his race.
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“Once we lost (the lead), I probably made a bad move taking the bottom on a restart,” Truex said. “Just too loose in the long runs. I could hang with whoever was leading, just could never get off the corner good enough to get a move. Just lacking side bite. Overall, just burning the rear tires off too much.
By jumping the leaders on the final round of pit stops, Truex was able to move from third to second place. But Chastain was able to manage his gap and air block, even though lapped traffic. And even though Truex could see Chastain was battling his car, too, the No. 1 Chevrolet still drove away.
“Just really loose at the end of the race there as well,” Truex said. “Just needed a little bit. Got lots of speed. Just could never get the balance where it needed to be. Without having clean air, it was difficult, so overall, good night for our Bass Pro Tracker Toyota Camry. Guys are doing a great job. Just that close again.
“If we keep doing this, we’ll be in good shape.”
Truex led 50 laps Sunday night. He also picked up 16 stage points, and remains the championship point leader.
“If we extended it, it’s always good,” Truex said. “A lot of points at the end of the regular season to get that (championship), a lot of bonus points. We’ll take all we can/
“I was disappointed not to get the stage win there. We had it wrapped up until the tire got away on the 45 (Tyler Reddick). That’s how these things play out. We weren’t quite good enough to take the lead. That was our issue. Burning the tires off too much, getting too loose in the long runs.”