Was it his car, or was it Joey Logano jumping the final restart in Monday’s rain-delayed Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway?It could have been either according to Martin Truex Jr.
Truex was running second in the closing stages. With a bit of drafting help from Kurt Busch behind the two were slowly reeling in leader Logano.
But Erik Jones spun on lap 195 setting up an overtime finish.
“I felt like before that we were going to finish second no matter what,” said Truex, who finished third. “My mind-set there was at least we got a shot at it here. Rack ’em up, have a green‑white‑checkered and see.”
On that green-white-checkered flag restart Logano rocketed to the lead leaving Truex and Busch behind. Busch was able to get past Truex but fell short of the win settling for second; Truex meanwhile had to be content with third.
“My second gear was off a little bit all day on the restarts, so I was getting jumped,” Truex said. “But then the 22 (Joey Logano) just went like a whole car length before his restart zone. I don’t know how you get away with that. I thought we were supposed to go in the box.”
NASCAR however didn’t call a penalty.
“I don’t know what I did,” Logano said laughing in victory lane.
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.