Martin Truex Jr. is retiring from the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of the season but he’s more or less done right now, eight races shy of his personal finish line.
The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion has become increasingly fed up with the state of race craft at the highest level of the discipline and was reminded of every facet of his frustrations on Sunday at Watkins Glen.
Truex entered the race with an 18-point deficit to the playoff elimination cutline, the result of a crash last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and needing to start digging out of this weekend.
He did just that, running near the front, winning the first stage when non-playoff drivers Ross Chastain and Shane Van Gisbergen flipped the stage and was running inside the top-15 when the contender attrition made its way to him next.
Todd Gilliland made a move on Kyle Larson on the restart with three laps to go but it stacked up the field and resulted in Truex washing up into the wall alongside Justin Haley after a push from Tyler Reddick. Truex had to nurse his car to a 20th place finish by the checkered flag, remarkably his best finish since a top-10 at Pocono on July 14.
It was of very little consolation to Truex, however, as left him at minus 14 to the cutline, when he was in position to be much closer after scoring max stage points earlier in the race.
The entire ordeal was just a reminder of how frustrated he is with the current level of race craft amongst the field late in these races.
“We were in the wrong lane, on the short end of the stick as usual,” Truex said. “We were in a decent spot there. You go into the esses and they just plow through you, put you in the marbles. This racing is just ridiculous. It’s a joke.”
This is the sort of thing Truex can say with a reputation as one of the cleanest drivers, one of the last of his era that raced a certain way before this playoff format and all the intensity that comes with it.
“It’s just crazy that all these races always come down to this,” Truex said. “I just don’t understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races.”
But again, regardless of whether he advances or not next week, he still has just two months until it’s no longer his problem.
“It’s very frustrating but it is what it is these days,” Truex said. “I’m outta here.”