LONG POND, Pa. – Halfway through the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Martin Truex Jr. leads the championship standings.
He also leads the series in playoff points earned, having won two races and an additional eight stages within the events to bring his total to 18. Should Truex retain the championship lead after the 26th race, he’ll claim another 15 playoff points as the regular-season champion.
More than any other entry this year, Truex and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team have mastered the art of winning races without sacrificing stage wins in the process.
“It’s difficult with the pit strategy – the way it can play out – and the stages,” Truex said. “It’s definitely changed the racing, without a doubt, and it’s been hard to manage how to be up front for the end of the race to try to get the overall win yet not give up those playoff points throughout the race.
“It’s definitely been different, and I think each week and each race track is different. I think Pocono this weekend is going to be interesting, because you can pit without going a lap down, almost like a road course. There’s going to be some wild strategies going on, and just depending on how the cautions play out, it could mix things up a whole lot. We’ll see how it plays out and hopefully we get some more points.”
Truex qualified second for Sunday’s Pocono 400.
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.
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