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 With better luck Martin Truex, Jr. would have fewer opportunities
to call on a winning personality in a losing situation. He led 172
laps in the Sprint Cup race at the Kansas Speedway on Saturday night
and lost after a broken bolt lodged in a wheel.
Truex was so fast in his Toyota he was rendering the outcome of the
267-lap race an afterthought. Then on the final trip down the pit
road, a head bolt broke off the brake caliper and lodged behind one
of his front wheels during a four-tire stop. Kyle Busch soon took
over, holding off Matt Kenseth and then Kevin Harvick to become the
first driver to win three races this year.
"I couldn't believe it," said Truex, Jr., who is still looking for
his first victory of the season. "Went around (turns) one and two
and I was like, 'Wheel's loose.' I kept telling myself that maybe
it's just shaking because it has tape on it or something stupid. It
was loose and I knew it right away. Frustrating, but that's how it
goes."
This sounds more familiar than the Star Spangled Banner. Since his
first career victory at the Dover International Speedway in 2007,
where he led 216 laps, Truex, Jr. has led more than 100 laps in
seven races without winning a single one. Last year, he led 131 laps
in two straight races aboard the Chevy entry of Furniture Row Racing
and lost both. Two weeks later, he finally won at the Pocono
International Raceway - after leading 97 laps.
 Maybe that's the secret.
Truex, Jr. should try not to be quite so dominant. Before the Kansas
debacle, he led 141 laps at Texas Motor Speedway before finishing
sixth. On the other hand, Truex, Jr. led just two laps of this
year's Daytona 500 and lost to Denny Hamlin by just 0.010 seconds.
"We're going to win races for sure," he said after the Kansas
setback. "If we keep bringing cars like that, we're going to win
some. It's frustrating when you've had it happen so many times in
your career. I swear, you watch guys win races that don't have the
fastest car or on fuel mileage and all this stuff and it's like,
'Damn. Someday I'm going to get on one of those or on the other side
of one of them.'
As it was, Truex, Jr. resigned himself to fate once again.
"Usually you can dominate and win, but it's tough and it happens.
It's part of racing."
Next up on the schedule is the Dover International Speedway, the
home race for the Mayetta, N.J. native. The son of a NASCAR
competitor who raced in NASCAR trucks, modifieds and Xfinity Series
stock cars with one win to show for it, Truex, Jr. continues to be
an underdog in the Sprint Cup with three career victories midway in
his 12th season.
Now driving a Toyota for Furniture Row that is developed in
collaboration with Joe Gibbs Racing, he has led a total of 370 laps
this year with four Top 10 finishes and one Top 5. Starting from his
first pole of the season in Kansas, he ended up 14th after
recovering from one lap down after pitting to fix the wheel problem.
While Truex's ill fortune has been running for three seasons --
including a disastrous campaign in 2014 -- it's tough to decide
which driver has had the toughest luck this season: Truex, Jr. or
Kenseth, who was leading going into the final two corners of the
Daytona 500 before falling to 14th. Perhaps Kenseth gets the nod if
only because blues man Jason Vivone has written a song about the
Wisconsin driver's inability to convert fast cars into victory
called The Kenseth Blues.
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"His car is on track," croons Vivone, "but he's stuck in reverse."
Kenseth has one Top 5 and three Top 10s after leading 350 laps this
season. Although he was able to briefly reel in winner Busch in the
closing laps in Kansas, he was unable to capitalize on a front-row
start next to his JGR teammate in the final green flag stint. At
least he got this season's first Top 5 finish after finishing
fourth.
On the other end of the spectrum is Busch, whose victory made him
the hottest driver in the Sprint Cup on the series' hottest team. In
this victory, Busch found a way to win once he inherited the lead.
Harvick, who vaulted past Kenseth on the final re-start, couldn't
find a way past Busch. He got to Busch's rear bumper - and then some
- exiting Turn 4.
Busch cut him off at the pass (attempt) with a slide job. "Harvick
was making it tough," said Busch. "He was right on my bumper there
for a few laps. I kind of pulled slide job off of turn four, cut it
a little bit close."
Referring to Busch's Toyota and the slide job, Harvick said, "Hit a
big piece of debris and knocked a big hunk out of the nose and
knocked the splitter down. From that point on it was tight.
Otherwise I would have drove around him. All in all, it just didn't
play out that way and they were able to win the race."
Overall, the team of Joe Gibbs, which has won six of 11 rounds this
year, is making it tough for those teams used to winning regularly
like Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing team, Penske Racing and Hendrick
Motorsports. Stout teams like Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix
Sabates, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Richard
Petty Motorsports continue to be entirely shut out.
Busch is leading the charge for Gibbs. He has led in all but two
races, scored a DNF only once and has spent 679 laps in the lead.
For the record, he has won 16 races in his career where he has led
over 100 laps. On Saturday night, Busch led twice for 69 laps.
Former Super Bowl-winning coach and team owner Gibbs says he doesn't
recall his racing team ever being as dominant as it is now and
counts himself lucky to have Busch on his squad.
"To have Kyle as hot as he is right now, it's very hard in pro
sports," said Gibbs. "The hardest thing in pro sports is to stay up
there every week. Right now it's been a thrill."
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