● Where We Stand: Truex sits eighth in the driver standings with 682 points, 132 behind new leader Tyler Reddick. All four Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) entries are currently inside the top-10 in the standings, with Denny Hamlin third, Christopher Bell seventh and Ty Gibbs 10th as the series heads to the penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season at Daytona.
● Playoff Watch: Just two races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season with Truex highest in points among drivers without a win so far in 2024. Truex is 13th on the 16-driver playoff grid with a 77-point cushion over 17th place. Twelve drivers have scored wins so far this season.
● In his 38 career Cup Series outings at Daytona, Truex has three top-five finishes, six top-10s, and he’s led a total of 148 laps. His average Daytona finish is 21.2.
● Outside of the NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona, Truex has made seven career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts there. Of his 13 career Xfinity Series wins, only one came at Daytona, earned in July 2005. Truex is a two-time Xfinity Series champion (2004 and 2005) to go with his 2017 Cup Series championship.
● Looking for 35: Truex’s win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon in July 2023 was his most recent Cup Series win, the 34th of his career, tying him with 2004 champion Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time Cup Series win list.
● Ahead at this Stage: Truex has accumulated 63 stage wins since the beginning of the stage era in 2017. He is the only driver with 10 or more stage sweeps, with his latest sweep coming at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn in August 2023. Truex scored his third stage win of the season in July at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, leading the field across the line at the end of Stage 1.
Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE
How do you attack trying to win at Daytona knowing how chaotic that race can be?
“We just need to be smart and need to do just what we know how to do. Daytona is always a crapshoot, so you never know what can happen. We just have to be mindful of the first two stages and see what we need to do in the final stage and that will set our strategy for the rest of the race. Really excited to have Bass Pro Shops back with us this weekend and hope we can get some stage points and then be there at the end on Saturday night.”
You have two races remaining in the regular season. What do you need to do to get in the playoffs the next two weeks?
“We just need to go race and do what we can. About the last two months have been pretty miserable for us. Had a lot of speed and not much to show for it overall. Just need to execute better and not have mistakes since it’s been a little of everything over that time. We’ll go to Daytona and do what we can there with some of that out of our hands, and then head to Darlington, a place I know we have been very fast at, and see where it falls.”
What are races like at Daytona?
“Daytona is a wide-open crapshoot. Everyone holds it wide open. You get down to the end of the race and we’ve seen the crashes over and over on the green-white-checkereds. Everyone just holds it wide open and, if they have any momentum at all, they just try to drive through the guy in front of them and it spins him out and crashes him. It’s really just a wild card, it’s kind of crazy. I wouldn’t say I’m not uncomfortable there, but it kind of stinks to get down to the end, if you make it that far, to just get crashed at the end. I’m hoping we can have some better luck this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Camry.”
Who do you think is the best superspeedway driver these days?
“I think there are a lot of guys that are really, really good at it. Denny (Hamlin) is certainly near the top. It is nice to have him in our camp to have with our deal. He’s very helpful. He’s very knowledgeable to help our guys with our gameplan and things, so I would say he’s probably right there at the top.”
Did superspeedway racing change over the last several years?
“I think superspeedways probably haven’t changed much as opposed to some of the other types of tracks. Just the way you can bump draft with this car is totally different than the previous-generation cars. I think right now there are a lot more options as far as what lanes work. It used to be that you never wanted anyone on the outside, and now you can pass guys on the bottom a bit easier and that sets up some other opportunities. I feel like the racing has been fun on superspeedways, but you have to be really aggressive, as well.”
● Event: Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Round 25 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 24
● Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
● Layout: 2.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 160 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 35 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 65 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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