Few drivers were more relieved to clinch a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs than Martin Truex Jr., after thinking he made the biggest mistake of his career at the Southern 500.
Truex crashed on lap three of Sunday night’s race when he got loose in Turns 1 and 2 and came up the track into the path of Ryan Blaney. The collision damaged his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota beyond repair, and Truex left the regular-season finale having earned just one point with a 36th-place finish. He entered the weekend without securing a place the postseason, as he was 58 points above the cutline.
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“It was pretty wild, honestly,” Truex said of the emotions after the crash. “I wanted to leave Darlington, dig a hole and crawl into it for a couple of days. It was a terrible feeling. I felt like it was probably the biggest mistake I had made in my entire racing career, and that’s pretty bad, especially given what the day was and what was on the line.
“Obviously, I’m glad we made it, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. So, I’m ready to get after it.”
It took until the end of the second stage for Truex to punch his ticket to the postseason and it came through the help of Chris Buescher, who was also trying to make the postseason on points. Buescher did not earn enough points through the first two stages to push Truex further into the danger zone. Truex made the postseason by six points.
The 2017 Cup Series champion admitted he couldn’t bear to stay for the remainder of the Southern 500 and watch how it would unfold. He got a text confirming he’d made the postseason after the hour-and-a-half flight back home.
“I did leave; I couldn’t sit there anymore,” Truex said. “I took a shower, calmed down, watched for about 10 minutes and was like, ‘I can’t sit here.’ So, I got out of there, and then as soon as I landed, I found out. It was good to get out of there and try to think about something else.”
Truex enters his final postseason with one last chance at a second Cup Series championship, but he’ll have to do it from the No. 15 seed with four playoff points.
“That’s all I could think of [Sunday night], was it ruined our whole season, and the next 10 weeks are going to suck,” Truex said. “Now we have a chance for the next 10 not to suck. It’s going to be fun.”