What started as a strong weekend for Martin Truex Jr. ended in disaster pretty fast.
After scoring the pole and posting the fastest time in final practice, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota had high hopes going into Pocono Raceway. He started off strong by leading the first 16 laps.
But when the race restarted on lap 20, his day went downhill. He suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2.
“A lug nut bounced off the ground, fell in behind the wheel behind a pit stop,” Truex said. “It’s just bad luck honestly. I knew something wasn’t right in (turn) one and two and I got real tight off of two on that restart and went down the back and was like, ‘Ah, it feels okay.’ And, as I got closer to the tunnel turn I felt it start to go down and by the time I let off and tried to slow down it was just going straight for the fence.”
This would be a recurring trend for the rest of his day as he cut his left-front and made an unscheduled stop on lap 41 and cut another tire down around lap 100. He retired from the race and finished 38th.
He leaves Long Pond, Pennsylvania eighth in points trailing Kevin Harvick by 132.
