● Playoffs Underway: After being involved in an accident in last Sunday’s playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the New Jersey native sits 15th out of 16 drivers in the playoff grid, 19 points below the top-12 cutline with two races remaining in the Round of 16.
● Road-Course Ace: Truex has a total of five wins, 13 top-five finishes, and 19 top-10s at the three permanent road-course venues on the Cup Series schedule – Sonoma, Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, and Watkins Glen. Four of those wins came at Sonoma and one at Watkins Glen.
● Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen marks the fourth of five road-course races on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Truex finished 10th in the first road-course race of the year March 24 at COTA before finishing 27th on June 9 win at Sonoma where he was running 2nd when he ran out of fuel on the last lap. Next, he finished 33rd in the series’ second visit to downtown Chicago street course on July 7. The final road-course race of the season is Oct. 13 on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval.
● Reser’s returns to Watkins Glen this weekend after being featured on Truex’s No. 19 Camry at both Iowa Speedway in Newton and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon back in June. Family owned and operated, Reser’s has been a proud sponsor of good times at racetracks, picnics, and barbecues since 1950 with a family of brands that includes Reser’s American Classics, Main St. Bistro, and more. Reser’s operates 14 facilities in the U.S. and Canada and actively supports the communities it serves. Visit resers.com to learn more.
● Looking for 35: Truex’s win at New Hampshire last July 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 last August. Truex scored his second stage win of the season at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway in April, leading the field across the line at the end of Stage 1.
Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry XSE
If tire degradation is as serious as we think for Watkins Glen, how much does that affect strategy?
“It seems that way (flipping the stage) and can be a good thing for me, personally. And it’d be a good thing for passing. Watkins Glen is so fast, and we’ve gone there the last few years with no tire fall off, so you can’t get close enough to a guy to make a pass. It’s simple as physics, right? You go up through the esses and lose five-to-six car lengths, it’s over. So, it’s going to help us be able to make passes if our car is good and that’s what we need at those kinds of places with our Reser’s Fine Foods Camry this weekend.”
What is your perspective on the overall first round of the Playoffs?
“I mean, as crazy as it can be certain places and has been in the past, whatever you do, just race one at a time. Take one at a time and hopefully, you have a good race and go home and say you made it through one and let’s focus on the next one. That’s all you can really do. We obviously weren’t able to do that at Atlanta, but you have to now look forward to Watkins Glen and get the most out of what we can there this weekend and then focus on Bristol after that. You just can’t look back or forward too far.”
Hendrick Motorsports has won the last five races at Watkins Glen. How do you stop them?
“We’ve been fast (there, Watkins Glen) for sure. Not as much in the Next Gen car. But it’s going to be a lot different this time around, so open minded and we’ll prepare as hard as we can and see what shakes out.”
How much do you lean on being a past champion?
“Yeah, quite a lot, I guess. It’s easier to deal with the emotions when you’ve been through it before and you’re not scared to death thinking your career is going to be over you’re not going to win a championship, as you already have. It helps keeping you calm and focused and hopefully it’ll help us.”
How important is getting the corner right in turn one heading up into the esses to set up the rest of your lap at Watkins Glen?
“It’s a tough corner. It’s downhill and bumpy and heaving-braking, it sets up the whole run through the esses. The esses are really fast and you have to come out of (turn) one up to speed. If you bleed time off of turn one, your whole lap is over, so it’s very critical. It’s a high-speed track and a momentum track so they are all critical spots, but that’s what starts the lap, so it’s the first most important part there. And, if you make it through there, you have to navigate the bus stop and that’s probably the biggest challenge at the track.”
● Event: Go Bowling at the Glen (Round 27 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 15
● Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
● Layout: 2.45-mile, 7-turn road course
● Laps/Miles: 90 laps / 220.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 20 laps / Final Stage: 50 laps
● TV/Radio: USA Network / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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