“I should’ve knocked his butt out”: When Martin Truex Jr. regretted his ‘fault’ following a catastrophic turnaround
Martin Truex Jr. was fresh from his 2017 NASCAR Cup Series title and eyed to clinch his maiden Bristol win the following season. However, his pursuit was shattered by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, who tried to reclaim domination after a brutal affair early in the race.
Truex Jr. began the 2018 Bass Pro Shops Night Race from 17th while Kyle Busch was the third fastest driver in the qualifying. However, three laps after the race went green, a massive pileup ensued on the 'World's Fastest Half-Mile,' collecting Busch's #18 JGR Toyota. As a result, the Nevada native was four laps down and charged to re-enter with the frontrunners.
Things were going as Busch wanted. He overtook numerous rivals and was about to outperform Truex Jr. for second place. But while doing so, the former nudged the latter's left rear on Lap 431 of 500, sending MTJ's #78 Toyota crashing into the inside wall. Truex Jr.'s ride came back screeching on the asphalt, ramming hard into the #7 Chevy of JJ Yeley, marking a DNF for both drivers.
Following the destroyed outing, MTJ regretted not being aggressive on the track and talked about knocking his rival's "butt out". It's worth mentioning that despite the heavy crash caused by Busch's rear-ending, Truex Jr.'s tempers didn't flare against his teammate. Rather, he aimed at Clint Bowyer for the dismay.
Martin Truex Jr. voiced his displeasure about playing too nice. He said he screwed his front compound while battling against Bowyer for nearly 20 laps and that Kyle Busch was partly to blame for the misery.
“Half (Busch’s) fault, half my fault for following the 14 (of Bowyer) so long. I should’ve knocked his butt out of the way because he held me up for 15-20 laps and burnt my front tires off screwing with him. Played too nice and got the crappy end of the stick,” Truex Jr. said via NASCAR.
Busch crashed later in the race and his brother Kurt ultimately swept the Night Race victory.
"I feel terrible about that": Kyle Busch admitted to his wrongdoing in Martin Truex Jr.'s misery
While Kyle Busch is infamous in NASCAR for racing hard and being unapologetic about it, he admitted being at fault in the wreck with Martin Truex Jr. The JGR driver said he aimed to move up the track and line up behind his teammate but misjudgment resulted in a catastrophe.
“Totally my fault, man, I feel terrible about that. Obviously I just misjudged it by a little bit – four inches, six inches, whatever and I got in the gas and was coming up off the corner and was going to slide in behind him (Martin Truex Jr.) and I didn’t think I was next to him yet and I clipped him and sent him for a whale of a ride," Busch said via NASCAR.
Despite the remarkable surge at the challenging short track, Busch's rise to the front didn't last and he crashed out of the race, finishing 20th. Meanwhile, Clint Bowyer, who according to Truex Jr., was the reason for the latter's misery bested both JGR drivers for a sixth-place finish.
Notably, thousands of fans cherished the exhilarating turnaround. Following the race, Jeff Gluck's 'Was it a good race?' poll garnered 10,200 votes, a 95% approval rating for the Bristol race.
Martin Truex Jr. called his final full-time Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway and will be replaced by Chase Briscoe next year.