NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. is navigating treacherous waters this season, despite an impressive run that saw him clinch the regular-season title in 2023. Truex’s journey through this year’s playoffs has been marred by a string of misfortunes, leaving him facing potential elimination after just one playoff race.
Whilst speaking to the media ahead of the race at Watkins Glen, which is currently underway, Truex explained, as quoted by Motorsport.com:
“Just a little bit frustrated with how things have gone lately.
“No matter what we do, it is wrong, and we can’t catch a break. It has been frustrating, but the guys are working hard and a big weekend here. This is a good place for me, and I love coming up here. We put a lot of effort in, so we will see how it turns out this weekend.”
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Currently, Truex finds himself 19 points below the cut-line, a situation compounded by the string of bad luck and mishaps that have plagued his season.
Despite qualifying on the front row for the race at Watkins Glen, the uncertainty loomed large ahead of the race.
“I really don’t know. We will just have to see. It is obviously a bit of a hole to dig out of, so it is unfortunate last week that we got caught up in that and got some damage. I don’t know. We will just have to wait and see. We are going to try to win, but I think we will know more after this weekend is over.
“It is a lot of different things. You call it a slump — great players get in slumps in other sports, and that is what I feel like it is. I feel like we are doing a lot of good things — we have lot of speed and put ourselves in position, we just have to put it all together.
“Some days I make mistakes, some days the team makes mistakes, some days — last week we got caught up in an accident. There has been a lot of that. Just have to put it together on one day and hopefully that is this weekend.”
He continued:
“I feel really good about it [the race at Watkins Glen], honestly. We should be able to perform well here, and I’m excited. It is going to be interesting this weekend with tires that they’ve brought and the fall off that everyone is taking about.
“It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Can we pass — say we don’t qualify great — but we have a good long run car, can we make our way though the field? It is not something that we’ve been able to do with these cars on the road courses in a while. I’m excited about it and I’m looking forward to having the opportunity this weekend and going to have some fun at a place I like.”
At the time of writing, the race at Watkins Glen is currently on Lap 74 of 90 and Truex is running in eleventh position.