Martin Truex Jr. at driver introductions for the HighPoint.com 400 (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
LONG POND, PA. – Fresh off of his third win of the 2023 season in New Hampshire, Martin Truex Jr. ended the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway in the third position on Sunday afternoon.
It appeared it was going to be another solid weekend for Truex Jr. from the start, with him averaging the fifth fastest lap in Practice 1 after 13 laps and qualifying second for the Cup Series race at the Tricky Triangle.
The Mayetta, Stafford Township, New Jersey native showed similar speed throughout the first part of the race, leading to a second-place Stage 1 finish. Truex had maintained top-five speed in the early part of Stage 2, but made a pit stop on Lap 81 with 14 laps to go in the stage, resulting in a 10th-place finish.
By Lap 102, Truex had worked his way to the lead, and dominated a notable portion of Stage 3. Another pit stop on Lap 121 forced the Joe Gibbs driver to surrender the lead, rejoining the race in second place. After the final restart on Lap 158, Truex and Denny Hamlin were racing for the win, and Hamlin just edged Truex out in the outside lane. Tyler Reddick was also able to get by Truex before the race ended under caution for Ryan Preece spinning.
Truex Jr. leads the field at Pocono (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
After the race, Truex reflected on the last several laps of the race, more specifically the last two restarts of the race that he feels impacted the result he saw from the race.
“When I got to second behind the five,” said Truex. “I was like I better just take the front row and hope for a good push. I didn’t get a good push, I fell back to third. I got back to the front row again, still didn’t get a good push. At least the last one I was able to pull the four off of the 11 and get to second, just impossible to pass the leader. Our car was so fast, but you’ve got to be out front in clean air to be gone.”
However, Truex was happy with his day overall and really liked the car he had to work with in Pocono.
“Great day, great race car,” Truex said. “Interstate Camry was a rocket. Fought track position all day, finally got it and then drove away from the field until strategy got us back a few spots. All in all, really good speed, good day just couldn’t get the push we needed from the front row to get the lead back.”
Sunday’s third-place finish leaves Truex first in points, 30 points ahead of William Byron in second place. Truex Jr.’s next opportunity to secure more points and work towards the regular season championship will be at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400 on July 30 at 3:00 ET on USA.
