If Martin Truex Jr. would have to describe the coarseness of Auto Club Speedway with an emoji on his smartphone, he would most likely insert a thumbs up along with a smiling face. The Furniture Row Racing driver calls the Southern California 2-mile oval “one of the most fun racetracks on the circuit.”
Coming off of two non-top-10 finishes – 11th in Las Vegas and 14th in Phoenix– Truex will be looking to get back into contention during Sunday’s Auto Club 400, the final stop of the Sprint Cup Series three-race western swing.
The good news for Truex is that Auto Club Speedway has many of the same characteristics of Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS). During the second race of the season at AMS, Truex was comfortably running fourth in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota before a caution came out with one lap remaining. He slipped to seventh during the green-white-checkered restart, but the performance was encouraging for the single-car team based out of Denver, Colorado.
“The stuff we learned in Atlanta will definitely apply to this weekend at Auto Club Speedway,” noted Truex, who is ninth in the driver point standings. “It’s probably the only track similar to Atlanta in tire wear, tire fall off and the overall track surface.”
Truex, who posted an eighth-place finish in last year’s race at Auto Club Speedway, has nothing but rave reviews for the crusty and bumpy racetrack.
“Even though the California track is difficult, it’s still a blast to race there,” explained Truex. “The surface is old and worn out with plenty of bumps. The seams in the corners between the lanes are really tricky. There are a lot of things you have to get right there, but through all the difficulty the track is a ton of fun.’
Truex feels to be successful at Auto Club Speedway you have to be able to manipulate the first turn.
“The hardest place on the track is turn one when you’re trying to run the bottom lane,” said Truex. “There’s a spot there – like someone dumped oil every time you make a lap. It’s definitely line sensitive. If you hit your marks you’re good. If you miss it by three or four inches you get sideways. There will be some guys good on the long runs and some on the short runs. There’s a lot of mixing up all day long – it’s just a fun a race.”
While racing has been fun for Truex at the California track, he would be the first to admit that his overall record at the 2-miler should be better. In 15 starts at Auto Club Speedway he has four top-10s, a 13.9 starting average and a 19.3 finishing average.
“We had a pretty good run there last year (finished 8th) and I feel the way we ran at Atlanta a few weeks ago we should be back in a competitive mode this weekend.”
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