Martin Truex Jr has been penalized during a crucial moment of the NASCAR Playoffs
Martin Truex failed pre-qualifying inspection three times at ISM Raceway
Martin Truex Jr sits 25 points above the cutoff line for the Championship 4 next weekend at Homestead. A bad race this weekend at ISM Raceway could see the Furniture Row Racing team lose their position in the NASCAR Playoffs.
ISM Raceway marks the final race of the elimination rounds. It’s also the second to last race for the team as the defending champions will close shop for 2019.
Inspection issues for Truex
Martin Truex Jr had to roll through pre-qualifying inspection four times on Friday evening. On the fourth attempt, they made it through the OSS.
Two minutes into round one, Truex was heading out of the OSS. However, NACSAR still had a few remaining checks outside of the station. The lifted the deck lid and cleared them of everything else.
Truex was obviously late to the track in round one of knockout qualifying. In addition, the crew made several adjustments on the car just to get the car through tech. To the point where crew chief Cole Pearn wasn’t sure about what they would have as he told his driver over the crew radio.
However, Truex was able to turn a time good enough to advance to round two. In round two, he put the car in the 13th position. One spot short of an advancement into the final qualifying round.
“This seems to be kind of par for the course for us lately,” Truex said following qualifying at ISM Raceway.
“I’d say 13th is a pretty good starting spot for the day we’ve had. We really didn’t get a crack at anything in practice and we didn’t have much time to get ready for qualifying and we were pretty far off. Made some good gains for sure.”
Martin Truex Penalty
ISM Raceway
Martin Truex Jr will keep his 13th place starting position for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday. However, failing inspection three times does come with a penalty.
The team will miss 30 minutes of final practice on Saturday to serve a penalty. That’s 30 minutes of a very important practice session.
In addition, car chief Blake Harris has been ejected from the speedway.
The car chief plays a role of growing importance on these race teams. The primary role of the car chief is to get the car through inspection.
More
ISM Raceway: Starting Lineup (NASCAR Cup Series)
Martin Truex Jr’s car chief ejected from Indianapolis Motor Speedway (September 2018)
Crew member for Martin Truex Jr ejected from Atlanta (February 2018)
Martin Truex Jr to Joe Gibbs Racing in the 2019 NASCAR season
Links
Martin Truex Jr | Furniture Row Racing| ISM Raceway | NASCAR
