Notebook Items:
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Thoughts of winning at Martinsville buoyed Truex’s spirits after Talladega
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Logano underscores performance of Martinsville win
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Short strokes
Oct. 29, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
Thoughts of winning at Martinsville buoyed Truex’s spirits after Talladega
MARTINSVILLE,
Va. – After a blown engine knocked him out of the Chase for the NASCAR
Sprint Cup last Sunday at Talladega, the one thought that kept Martin
Truex Jr. from wallowing
in despair was the prospect of winning Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500
at Martinsville Speedway (1 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
“As
soon as we got together in the garage in Talladega – I literally pulled
in there, got out and we all got together and said, ‘Let’s go win
Martinsville; what do we have to
do to win Martinsville?’” an emotional Truex said on Friday afternoon
after winning the pole for Sunday’s race. “I think our attitude just
instantly changed to, ‘OK, we’re out of it; there’s nothing we can do
about it now. Let’s not focus on this or rip us
apart or pull us down or hold us back.’
“It’s
not easy to do, so I’m really proud of our guys, road guys and guys at
the shop – they put a lot of effort into this car, it’s brand new, to
try to come here and be better
than we were in the spring.”
Truex
won twice in the Chase’s Round of 16 and looked like a solid pick to
advance from the Round of 12 after winning the pole at Talladega. But
the blown engine upended his
entire season.
“I
think that’s the most disappointing part for us is that we’ve probably
been the strongest team all year long,” said Truex, who has recorded
four of his seven career victories
this season. “The flip side from that is that we haven’t been as
consistent as we needed to be, and I think we understand that as well.
Going forward, that will be something we focus on…
“As
bad as it hurts that we’re not in the Chase anymore, and we aren’t
going to win our first championship, we want to go out on a high note,
we want to go out with momentum,
and we want to go out with a lot of confidence for next year.”
LOGANO UNDERSCORES IMPORTANCE OF A MARTINSVILLE WIN
If Truex is to win at Martinsville, he’ll have to beat the driver starting beside him on the front row in Sunday’s race.
Joey
Logano, who advanced to the Round of 8 on the strength of last Sunday’s
victory at Talladega, knows only too well what a victory at the
.526-mile short track could mean
for his title hopes.
“Winning
here at Martinsville might be the biggest win of the year,” said
Logano, who lost the pole for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 to Truex by
.008 seconds. “It might be what
wins you a championship, if you think about it. Being in this Round of
8, if you win, you’re obviously going to Homestead (site of the Nov. 20
Championship 4 race). You know you’re not finishing worse than fourth in
points, and it gives you the ability to
think about nothing but Homestead for two weeks, while other teams have
to think about the next two races to get themselves in.
“You’ve
got to get there before you can win the championship, so I think it’s a
pretty big advantage to win this one. This is a tough race, obviously.
We’ve yet to win here.
We’ve come close a few times, so we’ll just keep doing what we know how
to do. We keep making constant progress at this race track as the 22
team, so I’m excited about that.”
SHORT STROKES
Will
the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 truly be Jeff Gordon’s final race in a
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car? Probably. But the four-time champion, who
is racing for the last time this
season as a substitute for Dale Earnhardt Jr., won’t rule out a future
relief role – if team owner Rick Hendrick needs him. “Your guess is as
good as mine,” said Gordon, whose most recent Cup win came last year at
Martinsville in what was supposed to be his
last season in the series. “I can promise you I had no intentions of
this happening, but here I am. Never say never is all I know what to
say. I really don’t think that I will be getting back in the Cup car
again, but go ask Rick Hendrick. That really has
more to do with him than anything else.”…
If
you’re looking for a dark horse in Sunday’s race, David Ragan could
fill the bill. For the first time this season, the driver of the No. 23
BK Racing Toyota advanced to the
final round of knockout qualifying. He’ll start 12th on Sunday, the
best initial position for BK in more than two years. Ragan’s strong
performance wasn’t confined to qualifying trim. He was third fastest in
Saturday’s first practice and fourth on the speed
chart in Happy Hour…
In
cool temperatures, Jamie McMurray paced Saturday’s opening Sprint Cup
practice with a lap at 96.780 mph. In final practice, which ended at
12:55 p.m., Kyle Larson (McMurray’s
Chip Ganassi Racing teammate) posted the fastest lap at 96.088 mph.
Chase driver Carl Edwards struggled in Happy Hour, posting the
27th-fastest speed despite running 71 laps.
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