Martin Truex Jr. New Hampshire Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. has a simple plan for forgetting last weekend’s Infineon Raceway disappointment — win Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Truex saw a top-five run end after contact with Jeff Gordon dropped him back in the field exposing him to a multi-car accident that ended his race. The Mayetta, N.J. native hopes for a more pleasant outcome Sunday on the mile oval where he won in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East driving for his father Martin Truex Sr. The younger Truex also scored his first Nationwide Series victory there in 2005. In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Truex has scored the ninth most points in the last eight races at the Loudon, N.H. track.

QUOTES

Martin Truex Jr. Keys to Running Well at New Hampshire: “It is a pretty flat, fast and hard braking track. You need good brakes. You need to carry a lot of entry speed to be able to roll through the center. That’s the main thing. Usually if you can turn better than everybody else through the center, you’ll be really good. When it comes to qualifying, I don’t think your qualifying spot is as important as it is at certain tracks. A lot of times the race there seems to come down to tire strategies. Do you get two tires, four tires or no tires? It’s just the way it plays out. You just need to be on the right pit cycle at the end of the race. If you have a good car there at the end and you can pit for two or no tires, the chances are good to get a decent finish.”

Truex on why New Hampshire fits his Driving Style? “I kind of cut my teeth there. It was my first big track I ever raced on. I raced in the Busch North (now K&N Pro Series East) Series and won some races in that division when I was driving for my dad’s team. I’ve even raced a modified there. My first big NASCAR win came at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Nationwide Series and it led to a championship. It’s an important place in terms of my career. It’s a place I have raced a lot. I have always enjoyed it. When you like a place, usually you do better at it.”

Thoughts on the Infineon Raceway Incident: “It’s very frustrating that we put so much effort in what we do and it takes one guy’s mistake to screw it up for you. It is really going to hurt our chances to make The Chase. The 42nd-place finish is going to kill us. The NAPA team continues to do a great job. Our cars are running fast. It was by far the best car I have ever driven at Infineon Raceway. We had a great run going. I really thought it was going to be a good day for us. It just stinks when someone screws it up for you. I wish in our situation that things were different. I wish that we were in a position where what happened to us on Sunday wouldn’t cost us a chance to make the Chase. All we can do is go back to work and keep working hard. Hopefully this kind of stuff doesn’t happen again. We’ve had a couple of bad weeks. We didn’t run as well as we should have at Charlotte. We got in the late-race wreck at Pocono. At Michigan we didn’t run as well as we should have. This past weekend we were really good and were wrecked. It just seems like when we run well, we still do not get the finishes. That’s what we are missing right now. We still need to work on that.”

Notes

Truex Jr., Truex Sr. and younger brother Ryan Truex will hold a media availability session in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway media center on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Truex competes in his 169th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Truex has eight starts at the 1.058-mile oval. His best start is second (Sept. 16, 2007) and best finish is third (July 1, 2007). He’s earned three top-five, four top-10 and seven top-25 finishes. His average start is 11th and average finish is 14th. He has completed 2,266 of 2,365 laps (95.8%). He’s led 47 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.

Martin Truex Infineon Report

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - finished 42nd - now 19th in points.

 

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: Martin Truex Jr. showed everyone during today’s running of the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway that he is a very good road racer. The No. 56 NAPA Toyota raced in the top-five during the first 60 laps moving as high as second place. But on lap 61, dreams of a top-five finish disappeared when Jeff Gordon spun the No. 56 in Turn 11. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver planned to rally back from the 26th position but a multi-car crash coming to the green ended his day. He was relegated to a 42nd-place finish. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to New Hampshire International Speedway this weekend.

 

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota

•  Truex Jr. started 10th and finished 42nd
• The No. 56 NAPA Toyota raced in the top-five the majority of its time on the racetrack.
• Jeff Gordon spun Truex on lap 61 dropping him to 22nd position.
• Gordon admitted after the race the accident was his fault.
• The spin forced Truex to pit road for fresh tires and fuel on lap 64.
• On lap 66 and in 26th place, the NAPA Toyota sustains significant damage while taking the green flag. Multiple cars involved forcing NASCAR to throw the red flag.
• The NAPA Toyota did not return to the track.

TRUEX QUOTE: “It just comes down to every week we have these double-file restarts and everybody’s head just gets ridiculous. It just doesn’t make any sense. Everything is fine until we have restarts and then it’s like the guys running a tantrum to win the race. It’s uncalled for. The unfortunate part is all the guys from my team worked so hard and we had an awesome NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota and were running top-five all day long. I just hate it for them. We were looking to have a really good day here and a lot of fun.

 

“We simply got caught up in that wreck and was just the victim of circumstance. We got spun out and that’s what got us in the back and put us in an unfortunate situation. We should have never been in that position. We’ve been running upfront all day long with a great car. Everybody on the NAPA Toyota did an awesome job. We had a shot at running top-three or four and maybe we had a shot at winning if the thing played right.” I guess Jeff (Gordon) figured he couldn’t catch us on the track, he was going to spin us out on the restart.”

RACE NOTES:

•  Jimmie Johnson won for the first time in his career on a road course circuit.
• The win is Johnson’s fourth of the season and 51st of his career moving him to 10th all time.
• Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five.
• Marcos Ambrose led 35 laps and finished sixth, his fourth consecutive top-10 on a road course.
• Ambrose was leading with six laps remaining when flipped his engine on and off as he circled the track. His car stalled as six cars weaved around his unmoving Toyota. Although Ambrose got his car restarted and moved back to the front of the field, NASCAR ordered him back to seventh for "failing to maintain reasonable speed" right before the restart.
• The race lasted two hours fifty-six minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 90,000
• The race featured 12 lead changes among eight drivers
• The race was slowed by seven cautions for a total of 14 laps
• The next race is June 27, 2010 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.

Martin Truex Jr. Infineon Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Martin Truex Jr. says he is approaching Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup road course race at Infineon Raceway in a whole new way. He summarizes his new strategy for the 10-turn, 1.99-mile California road course in nine words: “Make the tires last and my car will be fast.”



Instead of being fast for only a few laps as he has done in years past, Truex explained he will focus on making the tires on his Toyota last on the long runs. The new mantra comes after working with JTG-Daugherty Racing driver Marcos Ambrose at Virginia International Raceway on May 11 and 25. Ambrose, whose team is in a technical alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing, is one of the best road course racers on the circuit. Truex believes the Aussie will be instrumental in helping him steer the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota to a good finish on Sunday.

QUOTES

Martin Truex Jr. on Working with Marcos Ambrose: “Marcos has been really good on the road courses and we have done some testing this year. Marcos is really, really good. I am going to lean on him. I am going to pick his brain as much as possible. He is just unbelievable and it’s amazing how fast he can go around those places. I think his experience can help us. He is really smart about his cars when he races there. He knows how to get them to roll the right way. He knows how to get the feel in them that maybe he won’t be the fastest guy, but it will stay under him during the longer runs and keep the tires on it. I think that’s what I have struggled with. I’ve just worried about going fast. I am able to go fast, but the car won’t stay with me. I think Marcos is going to be able to help us a lot. I think if we can make the car last, we will be OK. This race is also a lot about pit strategy and being at the right place at the right time. If the NAPA team can do all the little stuff right and keep the car under me, I think we can have a great day.”


On Differences Between Infineon and Watkins Glen: “I have really enjoyed Watkins Glen. I have been really fast there. I’ve run in the top five, top 10 pretty much every time I have been there. Infineon hasn’t been that kind of place for me. Infineon is very narrow, slow and slick. Watkins Glen on the other hand is the complete opposite. It is wide, fast and has a lot of grip. It’s like comparing Daytona to Martinsville. Infineon is difficult because it has some tight, first-gear corners that’s tough to get the power down.

“I think my biggest challenge at Infineon is I have always struggled with burning the rear tires off. Last year, I qualified sixth and passed Tony Stewart on the first lap. I was running like third and in three laps, I had no rear tires left. It was like I was out there with oil on my rear tires. I went straight to the rear. Infineon is one of those places where I’m going to work with Marcos to figure out what it will take for me to race well there.”


ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

The driver of the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota will be competing in his 168th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday at Infineon Raceway.

Truex has four starts at the 1.99-mile course. His best start of sixth and came last season on June 21. His best finish is 15th (June 25, 2006). He’s earned one top-15, and four top-25 finishes. His average start is 22nd and average finish is 20th. He has run all 445 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.

Truex Michigan Race Report

• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - finished 17th - now 16th in points.



Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS team overcame a number of obstacles before catching a timely caution in the closing laps Sunday to salvage a 17th-place finish at Michigan International Speedway. With less than 25 laps remaining, Truex Jr. and the No. 56 team were a lap down due to poor handling and an extra pit stop because of a loose lug nut. Tryson kept Truex on the track hoping for a caution that came with 19 laps remaining when NASCAR spotted debris on the backstretch. The caution allowed the No. 56 to come to pit road for adjustments and return to the lead lap in 18th-place. Truex gained a spot over the final 16 laps to finish 17th. Truex Jr. and the Michael Waltrip Racing team next travel to Infineon Raceway in California for Sunday’s race.



Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota

• The No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota started 13th, but struggled to find grip early and fell to 25th by lap 20.

• The “NAPA Know How” pit crew picked up seven spots during the lap 49 pit stops.

• Truex raced in 25th position at the halfway point.

• Truex pitted on lap 139, but returned five laps later because of a loose lug nut dropping him to 31st.

• By lap 160 his lap times were the same as the leader and returned to the lead lap on final caution at lap 180.

• Finished 17th and is now 16th in the point standings.



TRUEX QUOTE: "What a way to recover and survive. It was going to be an ugly day if that caution (lap 181) didn't come out. We got behind and lost a lap when a tire was left loose and had to come in and pit again under green. I wasn't going to get on my guys because they have done a great job for me all season. I just told them on the radio to keep their chin up. We got the break we needed and it put us back on the lead lap. I thought we were going to be better today because we had good practices yesterday. I could have spun out a 100 times, but we just stayed smart. By halfway we were a lot better. We were tight in traffic but really good in clean air. That made it tough on restarts because I had chances to pass, but (the car) just plowed in traffic. We just need to keep getting better because the opportunity is there for us. I think we got ourselves some points and I am real proud of all my guys for hanging in there and rallying together for a respectable finish."



RACE NOTES:

• Denny Hamlin won for the second consecutive week and the fifth time in 2010

• Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five

• The race lasted two hours thirty-three minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 95,000

• The race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers

• The race was slowed by four cautions for a total of 14 laps

• The next race is Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Martin Truex Jr. Michigan Preview

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.

Martin Truex Jr. - Pocono Race Report

• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Finished 25th - now 15th in points

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: Martin Truex Jr. had a solid run spoiled after a last lap incident caused major damage to the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota. Truex started 27th but was quick to report a loose-handling Toyota. The first caution flew on lap 15 and Truex hit pit road for service. He restarted 26th and began slowly working his way through the field. By the halfway point he was in the top 15 and then was listed in the top 10 with just under 50 laps remaining in the 500-mile event. With pit strategy starting to play out near the end of the race, crew chief Pat Tryson summoned Truex to pit road for fuel only on lap 168. Truex was forced to restart deep in the field with only 30 laps remaining in the event because some teams opted to stay on the race track. The veteran driver sliced and diced his way through the field and was in the top 12 when a caution flag flew with just two laps remaining in the race forcing a green, white, checkered finish. Unfortunately, Truex was involved in a massive incident on the final lap and he limped the No. 56 Toyota to a 25th-place finish.


Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota

• Truex finished 25th and is now 15th in championship point standings. He is 65 points out of 12th.

• Fought a loose handling No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota for the majority of the event.

• Worked his way into the top 15 by the halfway point

• Truex reported the car was starting to come to life on lap 125

• Listed in the top 10 with just under 50 laps remaining in the race

• Ran as high as eighth at one point in the race

• Truex pitted on lap 168 for fuel only

• Truex was involved in a massive incident on the last lap of the race and limped to the finish line

TRUEX QUOTE: “There’s not a whole lot I can say about today. It’s a shame to race your way up into a top-10 position and have the race unfold the way it did. We got back up to 14th and then we got involved in the last lap crash. To have a good run taken away like that is tough. I don’t like races like this . We has a good NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota and the guys did a great job. We didn’t deserve a 25th-place finish today.

RACE NOTES:

• Denny Hamlin won the race under caution over teammate Kyle Busch

• The win is Hamlin’s fourth of the season.

• Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five

• The race lasted three hours and forty-four minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 105,000

• The race featured 14 lead changes among seven drivers

• The race was slowed by eight cautions for a total of 27 laps

• The start of the race was delayed nearly two hours due to rain and track drying

• The next race is June 13, 2010 at Michigan International Speedway.

Martin Truex Jr. - Pocono Raceway Qualifying Report

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Qualified 27th
Summary
Michael Waltrip Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann both experienced issues during Friday’s qualifying effort for the Gillette ProGlide 500 at Pocono. Martin Truex Jr. experienced some sort of mechanical issue that caused his car to skip down the front stretch and caused the No. 56 team to qualify 27th with a time of 53.824 sec.
Meanwhile, David Reutimann also experienced difficulty, but his came in the way of a handling issue caused by bottoming out over a difficult racing surface. Reutimann said that as the splitter would hit the track over a particularly rough stretch between turns one and two it caused the nose of his Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota to take off on him and lose speed. Reutimann qualified 29th with a time of 53.855 sec. This week’s qualifying effort snaps a streak of four consecutive points races where an MWR driver has started from a top-five position.
Both teams practiced well in race trim on Friday’s only practice and should be able to gain positions throughout Sunday’s 500 mile event at the 2.5 mile Pocono Raceway.
Sunday afternoon’s running of the Gillette ProGlide 500 presented by Target gets underway on TNT, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 1 p.m. ET.
Friday Recap
Kyle Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award for the second time in four weeks with a time of 53.102 sec.
Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
Points leader Kevin Harvick will start 22nd
Bowyer is making his best Cup start (second) of 2010
JTG-Daugherty Racing driver Marcos Ambrose qualified the No. 47 Toyota 16th

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Qualified 27th

What happened with your car during your qualifying lap?
“I’m not real sure. We only have one box and one battery for qualifying so I can’t switch. It was strange. Just all of the way down the front straightaway was skipping real bad and it wouldn’t turn any RPM. Then it mysteriously went away off of turn one and down the backstretch. Not real sure, but the NAPA Toyota was driving real well. I thought it was going to be a good lap without that. The guys did good. We’ll just have to go back and figure out what happened and race them all Sunday.”