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Truex Jr. Heads to Daytona With Renewed Playoff Hopes

(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After finishing 23rd last weekend at Watkins Glen International, Martin Truex Jr.’s playoff hopes looked bleak. He left Upstate New York 25 points behind Ryan Blaney for the final playoff spot, almost seemingly in a must-win situation.

But, the playoff picture has significantly changed since then.

On Thursday, Kurt Busch announced that he is pulling his playoff waiver, making him ineligible to compete for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Busch has missed the last five races with a concussion and is out indefinitely.

As a result, an extra spot has opened on the playoff grid, meaning Truex is suddenly above the cutline. As long as there isn’t a new winner at Daytona besides Blaney, Truex will have a chance to compete for his second championship.

But, Truex has the mindset that he still must earn his position Saturday night.

“We’re not in until it’s over,” Truex said in a press conference Friday. “We’re here to race and excited and two scenarios, one we get in on points, or we win the race. That will be optimum because of the points situations.

“As far as our speed goes and the things we’ve been working on between Drew (Herring, spotter) and I and James (Small, crew chief) just feel more confident. This year, I think with this car in general, it has run well for us and we’re feeling pretty good.”

However, Truex will have to defend a group of hungry drivers below the cutline who must win to get in. Michael McDowell, Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski all have Cup Series victories on superspeedways and are in desperate need of a win.

“You never know what to expect here but you know it’s going to be wild and crazy and there will be a lot of crashes,” Truex said. “They brought the last regular season race here for a reason, right? Drama and craziness and that’s what we’re going to see. So that’s why for me, I’m just like, we’re just going to go out there and race and try to put our best race out there and hope that we can get it done.”

(Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)

But if there isn’t a new winner, Truex will be safe in the playoffs. He can improve up to 15th on the playoff grid and it’s not possible for him to drop below 16th.

However, to elevate to 15th, Truex will need a strong points day.

“I think we need to go race and try to stay at the front and try to get stage points,” Truex said. “Best case scenario for us would be to go out and win because you know, the owner’s championship points side of things. You know, what, you have to fall back on that last spot. We won’t be in on owner’s points. So it’s not really what you hope to accomplish.

“If [Blaney] ended up in front of me at the end, and I wouldn’t have a problem pushing him. I’m not going to push a guy that hasn’t won yet. So I mean, yeah, obviously, I’m going to do what I feel like is the best opportunity for me to win or be in position to win.

“It’s a good opportunity for us and obviously, it’s not been the season we’ve wanted. It would have been nice to be locked in. You never want to come here to Daytona and not be locked in and having to make something happen. We’ll just go race tomorrow night, see what happens.”

Although the wins haven’t been there, Truex is still sixth in driver’s points and will be in a good position if he advances. He has seven playoff points from stage wins and is projected to add five from his points position. If he improves in driver’s points, he’ll earn more playoff points in addition to what he may earn Saturday night.

Darlington will open the Round of 16, a place Truex has won twice. He led 28 laps in the spring race before crashing out with 30 laps to go.

“We had a strong run there back earlier in the year,” Truex said. “We ran top five around the top five most of the day. We need to be a little better there than we were the last time. I feel good about it.  And I feel like we’ll have a good shot at going there and running well.”

Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Blaney won the race last year.

 

 

 

Nathan Solomon serves as the managing editor of The Podium Finish. He has been part of the team since 2021 and is accredited by the National Motorsports Press Association. Solomon is a senior in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University. Contact him at NSolly02@Yahoo.com.

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