“We have to clean it up”: When Martin Truex Jr. sent a clear message about repercussions to his team after a ‘disappointing’ race
Martin Truex Jr. had a race to forget at the 2018 Bojangles' Southern 500 in Darlington when he failed to convert his third place start due to a mistake from his team, Furniture Row Racing. The #78 driver faced a pit road miscue after the FRR crew left him with an uncontrolled tire during the pit stop. Following the jeopardy, Truex Jr. sent a sharp message to his team.
Truex, who started the season as defending champion, began his title defense strongly. By the time NASCAR was in Darlington for the Darlington Raceway race, the JGR driver had managed to grab four wins already. In Darlington, he was once again hunting for a race win before jeopardy struck.
The FRR driver started his race from third place and finished Stage 1 in third. However, he lost momentum soon after he faced a pit stop failure. The resultant mistake from the pit crew fetched Truex Jr. a drive-through penalty, and further put him behind in the race.
"It’s really disappointing to have a car that good to be up front and have that many troubles on pit road,” Truex said about his team (As per Motorsport.com). “It’s pretty disappointing. We have to clean it up. Playoffs are coming,” he said. “We do that in the playoffs and we’ll be out in the second round.”
Martin Truex Jr. remained in third place after the race, as Brad Keselowski claimed the Bojangles' Southern 500 ahead of his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano and Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyle Larson.
The New Jersey-born driver finished the 2018 season as a runner-up behind Joey Logano. In 2024, Logano of Team Penske won the title again, whereas Truex Jr. retired from full-time racing.
Martin Truex Jr. summed up his NASCAR career
Days after his retirement from full-time racing in NASCAR, Martin Truex Jr. touched upon his stock car racing career. When asked by Fox Sports how he would sum up his career, here's what he said:
"Happy. Thankful. Proud. Just the things we've been able to do. If you would have told me after my first couple years in the Cup Series that I would win 30-some races and a championship and had three runner-ups and just be around and be a solid, front-running driver for this long, I would be very excited about that."
"And so I just feel like I've had a great career, more so than I ever thought I could accomplish or would accomplish, especially early on. And I'm just thankful for all the people I got to work with and the fans and all my partners that made it possible. I feel very lucky to be able to get to do what I've done," he added (as per Fox Sports).
Martin Truex Jr.'s Cup Series career has so far consisted of 693 races in 21 years, where he claimed a championship, 34 race wins, 25 pole positions, and 291 top 10s.