Frustrated Martin Truex Jr. finishes fourth

With a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. collected his fourth straight top five at the track nearest his Mayetta, New Jersey, home, but that was small consolation for a driver who was frustrated at being unable to contend for the victory.

Compounding Truex’s issues was an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire on Lap 96, 24 circuits before the end of the second stage. That cost Truex a lap he had to regain on a wave-around.

“It was up and down, you know?” Truex said. “I thought we were pretty good at the beginning of the race and lost that lap and had to come from the back. Just really hard to pass here today. Our car was fast in clean air, but I couldn’t pass anybody – especially those last 200 laps once we got somewhere up towards the front.

“So it was all about where we come off pit road and how we restarted and it’s frustrating, but we just couldn’t seem to make the car turn off the corner all day long. It was tight from the get-go, and that really hindered me in traffic.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
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.