Ryan Truex’s afternoon came to an early conclusion at Talladega Superspeedway after being swept up in an accident on lap 19. The incident near the conclusion of Stage 1 relegated Truex and the No. 16 Bass Pro Shops team to a 28th-place finish.
Truex and the Hattori Racing Enterprises team posted the 16th-quickest lap in the opening practice session on Friday morning and were pleased with the performance of their Bass Pro Shops Toyota Tundra. The team, led by crew chief Scott Zipadelli, elected to forgo final practice and preserve their No. 16 machine for Saturday’s main event. The team showed the strength of their Tundra by advancing to the final round of qualifying on Saturday morning and captured the seventh starting position.
At the drop of the green flag, Truex quickly fell into line in the lead draft on the bottom of the racetrack and ran as high as sixth before leading a charge in the outside lane towards the front. As the lead pack thinned, Truex’s drafting help dwindled and settled into line running on the fringe of the top 10. On lap 19, contact between two trucks in the lead draft caused a chain reaction that resulted in Truex sustaining severe damage to the nose of his Bass Pro Shops Toyota Tundra. Truex was forced to retire early due to the damage and was credited with a 28th-place finish in his second Talladega start.
Ryan Truex Quote:
“They started wrecking and by the time I saw what was happening, I was already in it. When you’re that close to somebody, it’s hard to really do much about it. I didn’t even see smoke or anything, and whoever was in front of me moved out of the way and there was a truck right there. So, it’s tough. I was hoping to get Bass Pro Shops a good finish and maybe even a trophy. I thought the truck was really good. I went to the top a few times to just try to make stuff happen. We had a decent line formed there and it just kind of fell apart. That’s Talladega – it happens.”
“Yeah, I’m not really sure what happened. I haven’t seen a replay. Yeah, when you’re on somebody’s bumper, you don’t have time to react and I looked up and he (spotter) said there was a wreck and I was already in it. It’s tough for Bass Pro Shops. I want to thank them and Johnny Morris (Bass Pro Shops founder and CEO) for jumping on, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Toyota and everybody who makes this deal possible. We had a good truck. I feel like I had the outside lane working for a little bit there and it kind of got strung out just trying to make it to the end of the stage. It’s Talladega – it happens sometimes.”
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