Second overall finisher Martin Truex Jr. entered Kansas with a solid 12.6 points average, finishing fourth without leading a single lap. Kansas Speedway is usually his path to a top-10 finish (last September’s race was an exception), but this time he was aiming for a better finish and even a win. Unfortunately, further confusion in the final round brought those plans to naught. Although Truex acknowledged the mistake, he pointed the finger at Chase Elliott and suggested that it was Elliott’s fault for not catching Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher late in the race.
A fight for third place that nearly resulted in a four-wide finish at the line
The race was wild, with the lead changing hands 27 times between 10 different drivers. Kyle Larson picked up his second win of the season. However, his attempt at victory only materialized when a late caution sent the race, then led by Denny Hamlin, into overtime. But Martin Truex Jr. believed he had a chance to catch Denny Hamlin if a late warning didn’t disrupt the flow of the game.
Truex Jr. selected four tires just before the final restart, but fewer drivers than expected were using two tires, which put him at a disadvantage. He explained: “If I hadn’t been careful, I could have caught up to them right away. From what I was told, (Denny Hamlin) was obviously going to run out of gas. I could have easily passed him. , it didn’t matter because there was a warning.”
Hamlin was first out of the box, but Chris Buescher took a shot on the restart. Larson caught up with him exiting Turn 2 on the final lap, setting the stage for a breathtaking final sprint. At Kansas Speedway, he edged out Buescher by just 0.0001 seconds, while Martin Truex Jr. missed out on his first win of 2024 by just 0.075 seconds in a stunning four-man finish.
When asked if he thought opting for four tires was the right call for the restart, Truex reflected, “Restarting 10th is tough. 10th to 4th is pretty good, but I just needed to get clear of the #11 and the #9 off of Turn 2. I got the #9 (Chase Elliott), but he crossed me back over, and then we got side by side into Turn 3 and it made me real tight. If I could have cleared him off of Turn 2 and shot the bottom on the #5 and the #17 – because they were banging in each other up the hill – I think I could have got him.” However, Elliott wasn’t the only one who stopped the JGR driver.
His teammate did, too. Truex Jr continued, “I had the #9 under me and couldn’t turn down the racetrack. I was tight back there.” Answering the question about his tire choice, he added, “It didn’t win the race, so it wasn’t the right call. But I don’t know. I don’t think anyone expected that many to [take two tires] for a long run like that.”
Truex, who kicked off from 13th, made a steady push through the pack, eventually finding himself right behind his teammate Hamlin towards the end, thanks to different pit-stop strategies. However, that caution with less than 10 laps remaining led to another round of pit stops and a frantic green-white-checkered finish, where they ended up fourth and fifth – Hamlin trailing Truex Jr.
With all said and done, though, it looks like the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is getting fed up with these late cautions that have been costing him win after win.
Martin Truex Jr was “frustrated” about the last caution
The #19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver was on Denny Hamlin’s tail during the closing laps of the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday night. Truex had sliced through the field to secure second place as the fastest car on the track, but then the caution came out because of a spin by Kyle Busch with just seven laps left.
Truex fell to P10 after opting for 4 tires during the final caution, while 9 other cars chose just 2 tires and jumped ahead of him. Despite Martin Truex Jr’s Toyota making several passes, the race kicked back into gear with just a two-lap dash to the finish, and Truex could only claw his way back to fourth.
“I don’t know, just frustrating,” he vented after the race. “We were looking really good until that last caution, as always. I don’t know what we need to do to close one out, but the guys did a good job with our Auto-Owners Camry. We were in position to steal one there. Definitely had the best car, but fought hard all night, made good decisions and made the car better and better. That was great, but always stinks when you see the lead and can’t get it.”
Even his crew chief, James Small, admitted he hadn’t expected so many drivers to go for two tires on that last pit stop. But one thing’s for sure—if another caution had led to one more restart, Martin Truex Jr might have been the one taking the checkered flag.
