Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth in Sunday’s race, posting his sixth straight top 10 to start the season, but the performance of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team was anything but routine.
In the first tire run of the afternoon, Truex lost the power steering in his Chevrolet because of a fluid leak and plummeted through the field. But the crew fixed the problem with multiple pit stops, and Truex regained his track position by staying out on old tires for a restart on Lap 101.
From there, it was a matter of staying in touch with the lead cars and avoiding a myriad of incidents that produced 16 cautions.
“I can’t believe after losing the power steering the first run we finished sixth,” Truex said. “It was not fun to drive for a little while there, but they did a great job getting fluid back in it and fixing the leak and everything. Just fought all day, just like we always do—fought, fought, fought.”
Of all his finishes this year, the run at Martinsville was perhaps most gratifying.
“It’s awesome,” Truex said. “I can’t say enough about the team. Again, to battle like we did today… We showed we never give up. We haven’t all year long. We haven’t given up on each other since I started here. It feels good to have another good run at one of my worst race tracks. Just can’t believe we were able to stay on the lead lap, fix the power steering and all that and drive back through there. It was a hell of an effort.”
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