Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. will compete in the final road course race of his 21-year Cup Series career.
The Bank of America Roval 400k in Charlotte marks the final race of five road races on the 2024 Cup Series schedule. Truex finished 10th in the first road race of the year at Circuit of the Americas on March 24 in Austin, in Texas. The Mayetta, New Jersey, native finished 27th on June 9 at Sonoma Raceway, where he was second when he ran out of gas on the final lap. He finished 33rd when the Cup Series visited the downtown Chicago Street course on July 7, then finished 20th in September at Watkins Glen International.
Truex has two top-10 finishes and has led a total of six laps in six career NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Charlotte Roval. Truex’s average Roval finish is 15.7.
The road courses have been somewhat kind to Truex. He has a total of five wins, 13 top-five finishes and 19 top-10 finishes at the three permanent road venues on the Cup Series schedule – Sonoma, COTA and Watkins Glen. Four of those wins came at Sonoma and one at Watkins Glen.
Prior to the race at Charlotte on the ROVAL, a combination road and oval course, Truex’s July 2023 victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon was his most recent Cup Series victory, the 34th of his career, tied for the 2004 champion Kurt Busch. ranked 25th on the all-time Cup Series wins list.
The 2017 Cup Series champion knows how to win stages in Cup Series competitions. He has accumulated 64 stage wins since the stage era began in 2017. He is the only driver with 10 or more stage sweeps, with his last sweep coming at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, in August 2023. Truex scored his fourth stage victory of the season last month at Watkins Glen, leading the peloton at the end of the first stage.
Truex Jr. remembers when the track was being completed in early 2018 and how different it is today.
“I remember all of that,” Truex said. “I remember testing on track for the first time when the setup was even different than what we ended up with. There were no curbs, no grass, no paint, just dirt and old pavement. They just kept spicing it up and adding borders and paint and stuff and it turned out to be a pretty cool race track, especially on TV with all the paint, and it had a bit of a F1 from this point of view. . I still think it was a little wonky and weird, but I also think that’s what makes it what it is. It’s very unique, it’s different, it’s a challenge. They took a risk when creating it and it turned out pretty cool.
Then a few more additions were added, and the track and surrounding area began to take shape. Truex left home the minute he hit the track with left and right turns, then drove for former team owner Barney Visser.
“I was one of the first guys to test with just a road course with grass all around,” Truex said. “I was wondering, because it was small and narrow and I didn’t know how we were going to run on it in advance, but it turned out to be quite a spectacle. You have to be open-minded, embrace challenges and try to do your best. That’s how I saw the Roval in the beginning, and that’s also the way we tried to approach the Chicago Street Race. We almost won the Roval the first year, so we ran well there and would love to get that win there this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Camry.
Superspeedway racing can be crazy, as seen at Talladega Superspeedway with four-wide racing resulting in the largest pileup in the track’s 55-year history. Road courses can also pose their own challenges.
“The obvious answer to most questions is high-speed highways and how things happen and how they can eliminate large numbers of cars quickly,” Truex said. “However, resuming road courses has become the second craziest part of what we do. Thinking back to last year, we crashed on one of the restarts with guys going five and six points wide and guys trying to gain eight to ten places in a corner. I think this is the biggest change in our sport in recent years.
The Gen 7 race car in use today is considered one of the toughest machines in the sport, capable of withstanding crashes and continuing to keep going even if it isn’t too badly damaged.
In 2010, team owner and driver Tony Stewart won half of the final 10 races and captured his third career championship. Few sports professionals believe such a feat can be achieved in today’s ultra-competitive environment. Truex agrees.
“I think it’s definitely harder to do than it used to be,” Truex said. “It’s because of the car. Certainly. Before, you could find perks more easily than today with cars and buildings. You’ve kind of seen it so far here in the playoffs, not only have we seen several different winners, but we’ve also seen several guys that have won but aren’t currently in the playoffs.
Truex is hoping to score one last road course victory before retiring from NASCAR’s Cup Series at the end of the season. Truex will need his incredible talent, luck, a strong car and a fast crew to secure victory.
This article was originally published on The Fayetteville Observer: NASCAR Martin Truex on shaky Charlotte road course
