Photo Credit: Christian Koelle/OnPitRoad.com
Martin Truex Jr has been the dominant driver all season long, and now he has a shot at making his run for the championship in November that much easier by clinching the regular season championship this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
He enters Saturday night’s race with a 129-point lead over second place Kyle Larson. All he needs to do in order to clinch the regular season points lead is to leave Bristol with at least a 121-point margin. By doing so, he would earn 15 bonus playoff points, to add to his already 35 points that he’s gained with combined stage and race wins.
Truex now enters a string of tracks, including Darlington Raceway in two weeks where he is the defending winner, where he has been very good at since he joined Furniture Row Racing in 2014.
“It might appear that we have a safe margin, but I’ve been around long enough to know that points can dwindle fairy quickly,” said Truex, who will drive the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Toyota at Bristol. “The next three races – Bristol, Darlington and Richmond – are at tracks where the odds are higher of your day ending prematurely. So that’s why I am not looking ahead or counting points. All the focus right now is getting a good result in Bristol.”
Truex has 23 starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol. His best finish in the night race at Bristol came in 2011 where he finished second. He also scored his first career victory in the NASCAR XFINITY Series back in the spring race in 2004.
In this past spring race, Truex started third and won the first stage before ultimately finishing eighth in the end. He led a total of 116 laps, more than he did in his previous 22 starts at BMS.
“We all know the consequences of Bristol,” Truex noted about the battle style of Bristol. “It’s a place where you can go from having a good day to a bad day rather quickly. Staying on the lead lap and not suffering any major damage to your car are key to having any kind of success there. The luck factor also comes into play. We had a good run there in the spring and look forward to the same in our Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Toyota.”
