[autotag]Martin Truex Jr.[/autotag] won the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship at Daytona International Speedway but the next nine races didn’t go to plan. Truex only had one top-10 finish and a 19.8 average finishing position before being eliminated in the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.
It was an incredibly disappointing postseason run for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver as he failed to replicate any success from the previous 26 races. Following the event at Martinsville, Truex talked about being eliminated from the 2023 NASCAR playoffs.
“Man, I think it just shows how tough this sport is,” Truex said, “Anybody that races here and guys that have raced here that do the broadcasts, they’ll tell you. It’s this close, man. You find this little bit, and suddenly you look like a hero. Some other guys find some stuff, suddenly you’re not. We’ve been fast at times, but execution hasn’t been solid, hasn’t been consistent. We’ve had some bad luck. We’ve had a little bit of everything.”
MONDAY MTJ. Retweet to congratulate Martin Truex Jr. on his WIN at Dover! pic.twitter.com/WzqnT3EAgP
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 1, 2023
“Like I said, some years it feels like it’s your year, some years it feels like it’s not. I just feel we couldn’t do anything right. If it was ever a 50/50 call, it always went against us. A blown engine, a flat tire, you name it. Problem after problem. Just kept setting us back, and we couldn’t get no momentum. I think we did a great job today. It was a tiny little error, .2 miles an hour can ruin your whole year, unfortunately.”
Truex had optimism entering the 2023 playoffs but it was quickly thrown out of the window. Now, the No. 19 team will push forward and look to end the year on a positive note with the 2024 Daytona 500 being the next points ace on the schedule after Phoenix Raceway.
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