CORNELIUS, N.C. — NAPA Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. will spend a few days of rest and relaxation with family this week before he heads to Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup race. After racing and fishing, Truex’s great passion in life is his Philadelphia Flyers who hope to avoid elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals against Chicago on Wednesday. The Mayetta-N.J. native attended Games 3 and 4 of the finals in Philadelphia last week as well as a conference final against Montreal hours after the Dover race.
Truex is excited about more than just his Flyers. His Michael Waltrip Racing team enjoyed some great runs in May and ran well in Pocono before a last lap crash ruined a chance for a top-10 finish. Truex likes the two-mile, D-shaped oval in Michigan where he finished second in both 2007 races.
QUOTES
Martin Truex Jr. on Philadelphia Flyers: “I remember going to the old Spectrum when I was four or five years old. I’ve been a fan for a long time. They are an awesome team to watch and they play with a lot of energy and so much heart. To comeback they way they did when so many wrote them off says a lot about The Flyers. They won all three big games that Sherry and I went to so I will feel awfully bad if they lose on Wednesday night.”
Truex on Michigan: “Michigan is one of those tracks that I like. I didn’t like it much last year because I didn’t run well, but in the past I’ve has some really good runs. One of the things that makes Michigan fun is it’s really a wide racetrack and has a bunch of grooves available. You can run all the way down to the white line and up to the fence. It’s probably one of the widest tracks we go to. Because of that, I don’t think where you qualify is indicative to your chances to win the race. If your car is good, you can usually catch guys pretty easy.”
Crew chief Pat Tryson on Michigan: “Hopefully we have a shot to win it or a top-five. We’ve been running well lately, but still don’t know what happened at Charlotte. Other than that, we have been good so it’s important for us to get some points back this weekend after the wreck last week. To me, you need to be able to run the top at Michigan, but you also have to be able to run the middle and the bottom to pass people. A lot of guys end up going to the top including Martin. When I won the race with Kurt Busch (2007), we could run the top, but move to the middle and bottom to pass. I think to win, your car has to be able to move to the middle and bottom in order to get around guys.”
ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST
The driver of the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota will be competing in his 167th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).
Truex has eight starts at MIS. His best start of fifth came last season (Aug. 16). In 2007, he recorded back-to-back second-place finishes at the two-mile oval. He’s earned two top-five, two-top 10 and six top-25 finishes. His average start is 15th and average finish is 18th. He has run 1,526 of 1,535 laps of competition (99.4%) and has led a total of 54 laps in competition.
Take advantage of a great NAPA promotion this month. Consumers can visit a NAPA AUTO PARTS Store or a NAPA AutoCare Center, and get the following mail-in rebates—
$20 rebate on the NAPA Optima Heavy-Duty batteries, $15 rebate on NAPA Legend 84 month battery and $10 rebate on all NAPA LEGEND 75-month batteries.
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