(Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Martin Truex Jr. couldn’t chase down Chris Buescher in the closing laps of Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway after a strategy didn’t pan out, resulting in a second-place finish.
“It would have been nice to get a win today, but all-in-all it was a good day,” Truex said. “Strategy kind of shook us up a little bit. We were luckily able to get our track position back all day because of our speed.”
Truex had the dominant car throughout the FireKeepers Casino 400, leading six times for a total of 47 laps. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver cruised to a Stage 1 victory on Sunday before rain pushed the conclusion of the race until Monday. Once cars started rolling under yellow Monday afternoon, many teams elected to pit while the No. 19 didn’t, handing the lead back to Truex for the restart.
Bubba Wallace split Truex and took the lead but the Mayetta, New Jersey native claimed it back on Lap 99. Three laps later, a caution came out and Truex pitted. He restarted midfield but miraculously drove through traffic on fresh Goodyears and edged Daniel Suarez for the Stage 2 victory.
Crew chief James Small called Truex back on pit road during the stage break for service while Buescher stayed out. That decision proved crucial in the race’s outcome.
Truex drove back up to third before Buescher and Tyler Reddick pitted on Lap 156. While still several seconds behind, Truex expected to make time during the pit cycle as Buescher and Reddick needed to stay longer for fuel. Reddick suffered a loose wheel and became a non-factor and Truex proceeded to pit a lap later. He blended in four-tenths of a second behind Buescher.
The two played cat and mouse for over 25 laps, but Truex couldn’t make a pass for the lead. With 13 to go, Truex finally got side-by-side with the No. 17 car but wiggled in the middle of Turn 1 and coughed up over a second. It took until the final two laps for Truex to get back within range but it became too late.
“I think we just needed a little longer run. I felt like we were a little better, but it is just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires. We had an unbelievable Auto Owners Toyota Camry,” Truex said. “It was a rocket – just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. We just didn’t quite have enough, but all-in-all a good day.”
(Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
Buescher won his second race in a row and the fourth of his Cup career.
“[Truex was] so good was just wrapping the bottom. I seen it yesterday in the race,” Buescher said. “We talked about it when we went in the rain delay, that felt like the 19 was probably the car to beat. [I] was just able to maneuver [and] get through traffic very well. Knowing that we had to commit to a little bit higher, kind of a low mid lane to make our minimum lap time to try to make max speed. That was letting him get enough clean air to get really close to us at times.
“[With 13 to go] he got a good run down the bottom, I just didn’t pull the car down the hill far enough, and he was able to pull up on our quarter panel there. I knew that was going to be a very difficult move to defend. Fortunately, at that moment, we were close enough to the tail end of the field that we were able to pull a little bit of draft from the outside lane.
“Truex is a very clean racer. Try to live by that same mindset ourselves so that we can get into those situations and have that level of respect where we’re going to be able to race hard and race clean and get a win out of it but say that we worked for it.”
Truex, who announced over the weekend that he’ll return in 2o24, is closing in on his second regular-season championship. His first came in 2017 when he eventually won the series title. He leads teammate Denny Hamlin by 57 points with three races remaining in the regular season.
The series travels to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday before a trip to Upstate New York and Watkins Glen International. The regular season concludes at Daytona International Speedway.
Truex has a win at The Glen
“We are excited. Every week we feel like we have a shot to win, that is all I can ask for,” Truex said. “It’s exciting to come to the track every weekend knowing what these guys are going to bring me. Hopefully, we can keep it up.”
