Truex Jr. struggling but more than surviving heading into ...

Not much has gone right for Martin Truex Jr. through the first six races of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, yet he’s survived the first two elimination races and is one of only eight drivers remaining in contention for the championship.

So he’s looking at it as a gas tank half-full scenario heading into Sunday afternoon’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway even though his first six playoff finishes have been less than inspiring: 18th, 36th, 19th, 17th, 18th and 20th.

Despite those difficulties, Truex, buoyed by a strong regular season that included three wins — four if you count the exhibition Busch Light Clash — is second in points with four races left. He trails leader William Byron by five points. Of course, points won’t matter in the Nov. 5 season finale, when the champion will be whichever of the four finalists has the best finish at Phoenix Raceway.

“Stage points and bonus points certainly helped us a ton. I didn’t create the system. We used it to our advantage. That won’t get us through the next (elimination race). The next one, you’ve got to be running up front. Two winners of the next three races are probably going to be playoff guys that are still going. Need to turn it up, and we need to figure it out quickly,” the 1998 Southern Regional High School graduate said in a statement from Joe Gibbs Racing, the team for which he drives the No. 19 Toyota Camry.

“That’s the beauty, and that’s the thing that sucks about this deal, you know what I mean? I’m sure there are guys who are upset. They outran us enough to get in, but they didn’t have the bonus points. We have some really good tracks for us this round, so I’m hoping to go out to Vegas and have a good run this weekend, and we’ll fight hard the next three races and see where we land with our Bass Pro Shops Camry. Vegas was good for us in the spring, and I would expect us to run up front this weekend.”

Truex, who grew up in the Mayetta section of Stafford Township, finished seventh at Las Vegas on March 5. Sunday’s South Point 400 will consist of 267 laps (400 miles) on the 1.5-mile oval. In 23 Cup Series starts at Vegas, Truex has two wins, seven top-five finishes and 14 top-10s.

“Vegas is a great track that’s wide, and you can run all over. We saw a lot of guys run high the last three races there with the bumps,” said the 2017 Cup champion and three-time runner-up. “I feel like the car has evolved, and we’ve gotten better at being able to get through the bumps and move around. I expect it to be a great race out in Vegas. I love going out there, and it’s a great racetrack. The last couple of races there, we were in contention right to the very end with our … and were fighting for the lead and eventually the caution came out and the strategy didn’t work out.”