1. What can we make of Martin Truex Jr.’s start to 2024?
Martin Truex Jr. won three races and the regular season championship in 2023, but all the talk over the 2023-24 offseason was whether or not the No. 19 team could regain the speed that it clearly lacked in the final 10 races of last season.
Flash forward to April 2024, and it’s abundantly clear that Truex’s dismal 2023 playoffs were an aberration. Through the first seven races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Truex currently has the points lead, the best average finish (8.1), the most top 10s (five) and second-most laps led (352) of all drivers.
He was oh-so close to returning to the win column for the first time since July this past weekend at Richmond Raceway (March 31), but a late caution, a slow pit stop and a questionable restart caused Truex to self-destruct post-race after a dominant performance completely unraveled.
Should that painful ending raise concern for Martinsville Speedway and the weeks ahead? Not really. Last week’s race was deja vu to another Richmond win that slipped out of Truex’s fingers, as he was coasting to his first victory at the track in September 2017 until a caution forced overtime. He then lost the lead on pit road, fell to second for the final lap and was wrecked before reaching the finish line.
How did Truex respond to such a bitter defeat? By dominating and winning at Chicagoland Speedway by more than seven seconds the very next week.
Next race on the 2024 schedule? Martinsville Speedway this Sunday (April 7), a place where Truex has won three times.
Hendrick Motorsports may lead the way with four wins between Kyle Larson and William Byron to start the year, but Joe Gibbs Racing is firing on all cylinders with all four of its drivers inside the top six in points. The redesigned Toyota Camry has had speed across the board to start the season, and while Truex may be the oldest full-time driver in the Cup field, he still has what it takes to be a championship contender and win multiple races in 2024.
2. Is it possible to remove judgment calls from restart violations?
I imagine everyone is starting to grow tired of the restart debate that’s raged on for the last four days, and while I wasn’t going to cover it again after writing about the matter earlier this week, I’m switching gears thanks to a brilliant proposal by Kevin Harvick on the…
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