● One More Chance to Advance: After being involved in an accident in a late-race restart Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, the New Jersey native sits 15th in the 16-driver playoff standings, 14 points below the top-12 cutline with one race remaining in the Round of 16. Only the top-12 drivers in points after Bristol advance to the next playoff round.
● Truex has three top-five finishes, five top-10s and has led a total of 341 laps in 34 career NASCAR Cup Series starts on Bristol’s concrete surface. Truex’s average Bristol finish is 20.2.
● Memory Lane: While Truex is still seeking his first Bristol win in NASCAR’s top series, he has visited victory lane at the East Tennessee track in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Truex brought home the win at Bristol in the spring 2004 race during the first of his back-to-back Xfinity Series championships, which came in 2004 and 2005.
● Truex has traditionally struggled at Bristol, but this season’s first trip to Bristol in March helped him and his Bass Pro Shops team gain confidence on the half-mile bullring. He brought home a runner-up finish to JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, leading 54 laps in a race where tire management was the story of the day. In his 33 races on the Bristol concrete prior to the March race, Truex had led a double-digit number of laps just four times. It was his most laps led in a race there since he led 52 laps in the August 2019 race. Prior to joining JGR in 2019, Truex led 116 laps in the spring 2017 Bristol race in a Toyota for Furniture Row Racing.
● 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 64 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 fourth stage win of the season Sunday at Watkins Glen, 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
If tire wear is a factor again at Bristol like it was in the spring race, how confident are you in your tire management skills to manage that?
“Yeah, I’m certainly looking forward to it more than in past years. Bristol has been in the past, just ‘hammer it’ as hard as you can all day. Track position was huge. Tires didn’t really wear out and it was all about pit stops, restarts and track position. Now, in the spring, it was like old-school racing. I enjoyed that more and had better success at it than I did in previous years at Bristol, so I’m excited for that and I think it’s a good opportunity for us with our Bass Pro Shops Camry.”
What are your thoughts on racing at Bristol, especially with this being a playoff cutoff race?
“Bristol hasn’t been my favorite place, but we’ve had some good runs there, too. I think we’ve been competitive there over the years. It’s a place that’s tight and things happen fast there, so you have to be on your toes. Always really excited to be a part of how great the crowd is there, and the fans love that place. Obviously the spring race there was very encouraging, and hope we can run up front all night like we did there in March and have a shot to make it through to the next round. Would be great to have another strong run there and finally get a win at Bristol with our Bass Pro Shops Camry. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Does going to Bristol make you nervous or does the spring race result give you and the team a bit more confidence going into this weekend?
“We’ve run well there at times, like the spring, for sure. We’ve certainly struggled at times, but I think everybody has. That place is tricky with the spray, and the groove moving around. We won’t race where we practice. It’s a little bit of a challenge there, but all of the times we’ve run there, it’s always been a flat tire or a loose wheel. I can’t even use both hands to count all of the times that has happened. It’s just been a tough place, hopefully no bad luck this weekend and we can go just have a smooth race and hopefully have the performance to get the job done.”
Is your approach going to be to try to point your way on to the next round?
“That’s the goal every week – try to get as many points as you can. You want to run up front and be in the mix with whatever position you are in. We certainly try to do that and maximize stage points and do everything we can. Some of it is out of our control and we can only focus on what we can control. It is going to be tough to point our way in, but it is a long race and a lot can happen, especially at a place like Bristol, so we are looking forward to the opportunity.”
How will you balance keeping track of where your fellow playoff drivers are versus what you are doing on Saturday night?
“You kind of just take it as it comes. Right now, we know where we stand and what we have to do, but things change, and if things change in a major way, they will let me know, but we just have to go race and do the best job that we can do no matter what everyone else has going on.”
● Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 21
● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
● Layout: .533-mile concrete oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps
● TV/Radio: USA Network/ PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
TSC PR
