Martin Truex Jr. hopes to get things clicking

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Getty Images)

Martin Truex Jr. won the regular season championship and has claimed three race trophies to date, but the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion is still looking for his first Top-10 in the Playoff stretch. He goes into this all-important Round of 8 ranked only five points behind Byron and says he’s got a lot of confidence in this slate of upcoming venues – Las Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville – as well as the championship Phoenix one-miler.

But while others may see his lack of Playoff Top-10s as problematic, Truex said he’s got a lot of peace heading into this last round and remains optimistic that he’ll be racing for a second trophy in November.

He’s won at all four remaining venues. He’s the only multi-time winner among the Playoff drivers at Las Vegas claiming wins in 2017 and 2019. He won in 2017 in Homestead, has three trophies at Martinsville (2019, ’20, ’21) and claimed the 2021 victory at Phoenix.

“We’ve won races this year, we’ve won the regular season championship, just got to get back to things clicking,’’ Truex, who could join Busch and Logano as the only multi-time champions in the series. “All it takes is having a good day today (in qualifying) and a good day tomorrow and we’re right back on track. We know what we can do. …I feel good about our team and where we’re at.