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Throughout the playoffs, Martin Truex Jr. has been marred with troubles. But now in the round of eight, it became clear that mistakes could not be something that could take place in order to continue his championship four aspirations. During the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after the end of stage 1, the JGR driver’s crew chief decided to not call him in for a pit stop and continue forth. But their strategy seems to have faltered in the end with the regular season champion only mustering an 8th place finish.
Speaking with NBC Sports after the race, Truex Jr.’s crew chief admitted regretting his decision which left his driver rejoining amid traffic, which in turn caused problems for him to gain positions and get back up to the front of the field.
Crew Chief of Martin Truex Jr. admits to poor strategy call
Crew chief James Small mentioned that he made a “terrible decision” by keeping his driver out instead of pitting at the end of stage one when everyone else was coming in. The strategy initially did work since he started the next stage from the front of the pack, but the cars with fresher tires behind him had a considerable advantage over him.
Small stated, “Just trying to make sure we had track position … I thought people might stay out and clearly they didn’t… If we had just taken right sides, we would have had the lead and it wouldn’t have been a problem. Just didn’t need to take that kind of risk with arguably a top-three car capable of winning. Just stupid really.”
Speaking about Small’s strategy call, Truex himself mentioned that he did not want to stay out knowing that it would have caused problems later on. But at the end of the day, he agreed with Small’s decision stating that he often listens to what the crew chief says, since they have a better understanding of the situation.
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It is a little hard to fathom that the regular season champion could only muster his highest finish in the round of eight. But that has been the case for the JGR driver till now. Interestingly, had Kyle Busch managed to win the race at the Charlotte Roval instead of claiming third place, Truex Jr. would have been knocked out.
Despite the improvement in overall performance with an eight-place finish, he currently occupies the final slot for the championship four transfer, leading his teammate Christopher Bell by three points.
Looking at how Bell performed at Vegas, Truex Jr. and his team would have to turn their ship around if they wish to advance forward. If they don’t then Bell would end up having a better shot at getting into the final title fight over him.
