Martin Truex Jr. expressed his disappointment with finishing in fourth place in a race at Kansas Speedway. The race made history with Kyle Larson winning by the closest margin ever recorded in the sport, just 0.001 seconds. However, if the race had not gone into overtime, it would have been two JGR drivers competing for the win instead of a Ford-Chevy duo.
Truex Jr. was leading when a yellow flag was waved due to another driver spinning out, taking the race into overtime. He was battling against his teammate, the 2017 Cup champion, for the win. Unlike Truex Jr., Hamlin was at a disadvantage as he was running out of fuel and would have lost the race to Truex Jr.
Truex Jr. also had a chance to win the race during overtime, but he couldn’t pass Elliott, who proved to be a tough competitor. Truex Jr. believed that if he had been able to get past Elliott, he could have caught up to Larson and Buescher and taken advantage of their battle.
Truex Jr. stated in his post-race interview that if there hadn’t been a late yellow flag, he would have caught up to Hamlin. He needed fewer drivers to take two tires instead of four during the final restart. He was confident he would have easily passed Hamlin to win.
The No. 19 team has been in contention in many races this season, but poor execution and bad luck have cost them in the final laps. They need to focus on improving their execution, and luck will naturally turn in their favor.
