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Martin Truex Jr. admits Dover Cup race lost was a 'shame'

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Justin P Joy | Last updated 4/30/24

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Season so far has been tough for Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Martin Truex Jr. He has failed to convert his consistent top-10 runs to wins despite having fast cars due to execution errors and bad luck. What’s more disappointing is the fact that his teammate Denny Hamlin has won thrice and Christopher Bell once so far this season.

The defending regular season champion lost the race last Sunday at Dover to his teammate Denny Hamlin. Martin Truex Jr. had the opportunity to secure a double win with his brother Ryan Truex, like last season as the latter had defended his home track win successfully. But his charge from P15 in the start only went as long as P3.

Talking about the result, the 2017 Cup champion admitted that it was a shame that he lost the race as he had a car capable to scoring the win. Martin Truex Jr. blamed the stage two traffic for the loss. He wasn’t able to get the full control of his car as it was often either too tight or too loose. He would be hoping to make a comeback this coming week at Kansas.

So, it's a shame we had a car capable of winning and just lost control of the race here in stage two and got traffic and got too tight. Just play to stay up front we were good, and how it went from being a little too loose still way too tight. So pretty much the same for everyone racing. Martin Truex Jr. said.

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Martin Truex Jr. is looking forward to this weekends race at Kansas

While talking about the upcoming race weekend, Martin Truex Jr. pointed out that he feels really good going into the weekend. He deems it as a fun race track and is looking forward to producing solid run at Kansas.

Yeah, for sure. I felt really good about our car there last year, but it didn’t last very long with the tire issue. Kansas (Speedway) is a really fun racetrack. It’s a place where you can move around. The tires wear out and it gets slippery. It’s just a fun place to race and we’re looking forward to it with our Auto-Owners Insurance Camry. Martin Truex Jr. said.

The No:19 Camry team has to put an extra effort into making Martin Truex Jr. into an absolute contender for wins. The major advantage Denny Hamlin has had over his teammate is the fats pit-stops the No:11 crew is pulling off. Truex Jr.’s crew has to learn from their JGR mates and clean their execution on the pit-lane.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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