Martin Truex Jr.: 'It could have been a lot worse'

CONCORD, N.C. – The number 13 is considered unlucky by some. Martin Truex Jr. may not be one of those people after Sunday.

Truex was bummed after finishing 13th at Charlotte Motor Speedway for a couple reasons. First, he felt terrible about wrecking Austin Dillon on a restart with 76 laps to go. Second, he saw a top-five finish disappear when his car stalled on the final pit stop – erasing a comeback from what seemed like a lackluster day.

On the other hand, he said, “it could have been a lot worse.”

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The Dillon incident might have more of an impact on the Chase for the Sprint Cup than Truex’s finish. After Dillon made a two-tire pit stop to get track position, Truex restarted behind him in fourth. But when he tried to push Dillon on the restart, it didn’t work; Dillon spun and triggered a multi-car crash.

Truex is now 19 points ahead of Dillon for the final Chase spot with two races left in Round 2.

“I flat ran Austin over,” Truex said. “Stupid. He got going pretty good, started to spin his tires a little and I tried to give him a shove to get him going, thinking I was going to help him out – and I guess hit him way too hard.

“I thought I was square and we were going to be good, but as soon as I hit him, I just turned him around. Clearly my fault. I feel awful for him and Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) and all those other guys I tore up behind him. I just misjudged it trying to help. Stupid move, I guess.”

Truex was using the same car he dominated the Coca-Cola 600 with in May and won with at Chicagoland Speedway last month to open the Chase. But he said his splitter kept hitting the track on Sunday, which left him unable to be as competitive. He cited a lack of practice time as a possible culprit. Friday and Saturday were washed out and the race was moved to a noon start Sunday.

Austin Dillon takes hard hit in restart crash at Charlotte

Truex was sitting fourth on the final pit stop when his clutch engaged unexpectedly. He dropped to the back of the lead lap cars.

Overall, though, Truex said he still feels confident heading into next week’s race at Kansas Speedway.

“I think we’re fine,” he said. “Thirteenth is a disappointing ending to our day, but all in all, a lot of guys had a lot worse days and we’ve only got to beat four of them. We’ve got a good track next week and we’ll get after it there.”

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