Martin Truex, Jr. recaps his day in the Daytona 500.
“We sure had a roller coaster Daytona 500. Since our position might have appeared to be bleak early in the race, we kept fighting to the end with a damaged race car that was a handful to drive. Our No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota took the lead with two laps to go. I then got passed, and to make matters worse, I ran out of fuel on the final lap and fell back to finish a disappointing 13th.
“We did what we wanted to do and that was to put ourselves in position to have a shot at winning this race. We came close but didn’t get it done in the end. But considering where we came from and the accidents we avoided it was a good effort that should have had a better finish. We had a strategy early in the race and we did get up front to lead a couple of laps. But we had an issue with a pit stop just before the Lap-60 mark. A lug nut flew behind the wheel and we had to come back to pit road for another tire change. We went down a lap shortly after and didn’t get back on the lead lap until after the second stage.
“Our car suffered right-front damage during a multicar wreck (lap 128). Our Furniture Row Racing crew did the best they could under a time limit to make repairs, but from that point on the car was a handful to drive. But we kept battling. I am disappointed right now, but I guess it could have been better and could have been worse. But when you’re so close as we were last year with a runner-up finish there’s a stinging feeling. I am sure it will pass and we’ll get ready for next week’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
