Truex Jr. Remains 3rd in Driver Points Despite Rough Day in Bristol

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In a bizarre day at Bristol Motor Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. saw his seven-race top-10 streak halted due to a couple of hits and a mechanical problem. The Furniture Row Racing driver finished 29th in the Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes. 

Though it was by far his worst finish since the start of the 2015 season, Truex’s 29th-place result was the best of the top-five point drivers coming into the race. Kevin Harvick (38th), Joey Logano (40th), Brad Keselowski (35th) and Kasey Kahne (37th) had their own issues during the 511-lap overtime race that took nearly nine hours to complete due to rain in the Tri Cities area. 

Truex remains third in the driver points, only three markers behind Logano’s second-place standing. 

“You just never know about Bristol — a lot of strange things can happen here,” said Truex. “Who would have thought that our 29th-place finish would have been the best among the top-five in the point standings. Very weird.”

Truex, who started the race from the 16th position moved into the top-10 on Lap 36. He slipped to 15th in track position when he reported a vibration in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet on Lap 155. The culprit was a loose right-front wheel, which forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop under green. The incident resulted in Truex going three laps down. 
 
It appeared that Truex had a shot of getting back on the lead lap, but his chances were doomed on Lap 292 when he got pushed into the wall suffering left-front damage to his car. 

“Today, nothing went our way,” said Truex. “We had a pretty good car that could run in the top-10.  But the loose wheel incident was a costly deal that was very difficult to overcome. We just didn’t get the cautions when we needed them.”

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