(Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Martin Truex Jr. can sniff it.
With two races remaining in the regular season, Truex is 60 points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the standings. He’d clinch the regular-season title automatically by scoring 56 points on Sunday at Watkins Glen International, or if he’s 61 points above second place at the end of the race.
In short, he needs to out-point Hamlin.
“We’ve been consistent and we’ve had a good year,” Truex said at Watkins Glen on Saturday. “I’d like to get it out of the way, but it doesn’t really matter this week or next. Yeah, I guess in 2017 we didn’t clinch it early so maybe we’re in better shape than we were then.
“I mean, obviously, those 15 points are huge. Playoff time starts and you want to have all of the bonus points that you can. Hopefully, we can do that. That’s really the main goal. Obviously, we want to win the race. More points come with that. We’ve just got to do our jobs and be smart about it and I’ve just got to be smart about not taking a lot of big risks or anything like that. Just really do what we’ve done all year. That’s the name of the game right now. Do what we know how to do and don’t screw up.”
After inconsistencies plagued the No. 19 team for the first 10 races of the season, Truex went on a tear as soon as the calendar flipped to May. He’s won three times, including at both of his home tracks in Dover Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His other came at Sonoma Raceway in June.
Truex has finished seventh or better in each of the last five races, including three races inside the top three. He leads all drivers with an average running position of 9.7. The Mayetta, New Jersey native took the points lead from William Byron after winning New Hampshire and continued extending it each week.
(Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
“I feel like in our years where we won our championship or finished second and were right there it was kind of the same feeling,” Truex said. “Every week was ‘ok, we’re right there and if we do everything right, we’re going to be in the hunt for the win.’ Yeah, that feels good and hopefully, we can keep that up for the next 12 races.
“You never know what can happen in the Playoffs. The elimination format, it could be crazy. You never know. I feel like every single weekend we’re right there. We’re in the mix, we have really good speed and a shot to win it seems like on a regular basis. That’s kind of where you want to be.”
Should he secure the regular-season championship, Truex will join Kyle Busch as the second driver to accomplish the feat twice. Truex won it in 2017 when he went on to win the Cup Series championship.
But to do so on Sunday, Truex will need a strong run at Watkins Glen. In 16 starts at the 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course, Truex has a victory and 10 top 10s. His average finish of 10.9 is fourth best among all tracks where he has more than two starts.
“I like the track. That’s always a positive when you go somewhere you enjoy racing at. It always seems to come a little bit easier,” Truex said. “Last year was a bit of a struggle here so I’m optimistic that today will be better and tomorrow will be better. Just kind of looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we have. This car has been – I feel like it was quite a bit different than what I had done in years past with the previous generation car. We’ll see if the things we’ve worked on and all the planning we’ve done will work out in just a little bit.”
Truex will start 19th in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. Hamlin is on the pole.
