KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Martin Truex Jr. has been down so many miles of hard road that he seems to know every pothole, every nasty curve.
It came as no surprise, then, in the aftermath of another heartbreaker of a race Saturday night, that Truex was cool and calm. This is a movie he’s seen, a role he’s played.
Truex led 172 laps — more than twice the total of any other driver — of the 267 that made up the GoBowling.com 400 at Kansas Speedway. While he was out front, Truex's No. 78 Toyota had no challengers. He rolled around the track with leads of two and three seconds, the rest of the field seemingly no threat to his position.
Then came the pit stop — with 54 laps to go and Truex leading. It was like a thousand others the Furniture Row Racing team will turn in a season, but it ended with a thud.
Truex knew there was an issue with the right-front tire after the pit stop. It was on crooked. Later, he said a bracket behind the wheel had caused the issue.
Thanks for all the support we will get it. We have a great race team I am so lucky to be a part of it.
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He had to re-pit, lost two laps and saw a golden night turn blue. He rallied to finish 14th on the lead lap, but what could have been always will be the focal point of this night when Kyle Busch erased his own jinx to finally win a Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway after years of frustration at the track.
“The lug nuts were tight, but the wheel was on crooked because something jammed behind it,” Truex said on pit road after the race. “I don’t even know what to say. It is what it is. You can’t change it, so let’s go try again next week.”
Joe Gibbs, owner of the winning car and the team that provides technical support to Truex and his operation, stopped by Truex’s car to hear the explanation of what happened during the stop and to offer support. Even Busch acknowledged in victory lane that the race was Truex's to lose.
"The 78 was probably the fastest car," Busch said,, "but we kept ourselves in the game."
Similar issues have plagued Truex over the seasons, and they occasionally have returned to throw dirt on what to date has been a good season. Truex came in second in the season-opening Daytona 500 to Denny Hamlin in a photo finish and scored top-10 finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway.
“That’s why I don’t get down and lose my mind when this happens,” he said. “We’re doing what we need to do. That was just plain old bad luck. It’s frustrating because it’s happened to me so many times, but that’s the hand you’re dealt.”
As he has on other disappointing days, Truex supported his team.
“It wasn’t anything our guys did wrong,” he said. “They got it on tight. What are you going to do? We win as a team and lose as a team.”
The toughest part of the night, he said, was having such a good car only to wind up watching Kyle Busch ride to victory lane.
“It’s hard when your car is that good in this series,” he said. “But we just keep trying. That’s all you can do.”
It was the kind of post-race Truex is tired of enduring. But he rolls on.
