3 months agoJoe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. finished Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in 24th after a strong run through most of the day. Beginning the race from the fourth position, Truex needed to make up a decent deficit of 14 points. In the first stage, Truex ran inside the Top 5 the whole time without any issues and placed fourth, earning seven stage points. During the second stage, Truex moved up to second after making further adjustments to his car to make it better for the night and collected nine stage points, putting him in position to advance through the playoffs to the Round of 12 on points. After a caution on lap 329 for Corey LaJoie crashing, Truex tried pitting and asked his team to make further adjustments to improve the car. Unfortunately for Truex, he was tagged for speeding on pit road by entering too fast and restarted at the tail end of the field. This penalty would destroy Truex's playoff hopes as he struggled to navigate through traffic, finished one lap down, and obtained another finish outside of the Top 20. Despite being out of the playoffs in his retirement season, Truex has another opportunity to nab a strong finish or a win at Kansas, where he has two previous wins and 18 top-10 finishes in 32 starts.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com