LATE-RACE RALLY HELPS TRUEX TO 12TH-PLACE FINISH AT DARLINGTON
CORNELIUS, N.C. – No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. finished 12th in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway.
“I am disappointed,” said the NAPA driver. “I don’t know how we missed it tonight. I really thought we were going to have a shot at the win. It didn’t work out. We’ll regroup and get ready for Charlotte race weeks.”
Truex lined up fifth, a career-best starting position for the Michael Waltrip Racing driver at the Track Too Tough to Tame.
He raced in the top 10 for the first half of the race. Then at halfway, the crew worked to improve the NAPA Toyota as Truex battled a very ill-handling machine while racing in the top 15.
Crew chief Chad Johnston made a series of aggressive adjustments that worked. The NAPA Toyota came back to life with about 35 laps to go. Truex’s lap times were as fast as or faster than the leader to allow him to climb from 15th to the 12th-place finish.
The No. 56 returns to action in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star race festivities at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Nick Palermo View All
Nick Palermo is a freelance automotive writer and NAPA Know How blogger. Since becoming an auto news and reviews contributor at AutoTrader.com in 2011, he has broadened his coverage of the automotive industry to include topics like new car technology, antiques and classics, DIY maintenance and repair, industry news and motorsports. A committed advocate for automotive media professionals, Nick is a member of the Greater Atlanta Automotive Media Association.