Information By: BILL JANITZ / JOE GIBBS RACING – HUNTERSVILLE, NC
Martin Truex Jr.
Southern 500 at Darlington Advance
No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing
Event Overview
● Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval
● Laps/Miles: 367 laps/501.32 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
● TV/Radio: USA Network / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Where We Stand: Truex sits ninth in the driver standings with 695 points, 128 behind Tyler Reddick. All four Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) entries are currently inside the top-10 in the standings, with Christopher Bell sixth, Denny Hamlin eighth and Ty Gibbs 10th as the series heads to the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season this weekend at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
● Playoff Watch: Going into the final race of the regular season, Truex is highest in the standings among drivers without a win so far in 2024. Truex is 13th on the 16-driver playoff grid with a 58-point cushion over 17th place Bubba Wallace. Twelve drivers have locked themselves into the playoffs with wins so far this season. Truex would be locked into the playoffs no matter the result at Darlington if there is not a first-time winner this season in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500.
● Truex has two wins, four top-five finishes and 10 top-10s and has led a total of 914 laps in 24 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington. Truex’s average Darlington finish is 13.9.
● Truex notched his most recent Darlington win in May 2021, when he dominated the race and led 248 laps en route to his second victory at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval.
● While he doesn’t like to play favorites, Truex certainly excels at tracks with worn-out surfaces, where driver skill is key to managing the tires and the racecar over the course of a long race. At four such tracks – Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, the now defunct 2-mile oval at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Darlington – Truex has six wins, 25 top-five finishes and 47 top-10s, and has led 2,209 laps.
● Looking for 35: Truex’s win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon in July 2023 was his most recent Cup Series win, the 34th of his career, tying him with 2004 champion Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time Cup Series win list.
● Ahead at this Stage: Truex has accumulated 63 stage wins since the beginning of the stage era in 2017. He is the only driver with 10 or more stage sweeps, with his latest sweep coming at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn in August 2023. Truex scored his third stage win of the season in July at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, leading the field across the line at the end of Stage 1.
Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE
What’s the challenge of 500 miles at Darlington as opposed to other racetracks, and even the 400-mile race there?
“The challenge is that it’s a long race, a lot of pit stops and a lot of chances for things to go wrong. Track position is obviously really important. To go through 13 sets of tires or whatever it is, and track position and what it means there, and to keep track position, it’s tough to stay up front and be consistently really strong. It’s tough to do there, and we hope we can do that on Sunday night with our Bass Pro Shops Camry XSE.”
Does it take a driver a long time to get used to how to drive Darlington and get used to its nuances?
“I think it just suits some guys, and others it doesn’t. For me, I feel like it’s about how I like to drive my car and the feel I need for the long run. For as long as I remember, I don’t really know what I do differently than everyone else, and I don’t know if my team does, either, it’s just the way that it happens. Even with all the technology today, sometimes you just can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that makes us good there. You can see the SMT and see exactly what a driver is doing, but there’s more to connecting that feel and those inputs than you can imagine. It just suits me, and I really enjoy it. Looking forward to this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Camry.”
Some drivers say they love Darlington and others say they just can’t get a grasp on it. Is it just tires, or much more, to be good at Darlington?
“It’s very unique, I love it. It’s really hard on tires and hard to get your car working good. For me, I’ve had a lot of really good runs there and have won a bunch of races and have been really strong in the last four years, so I really enjoy it. I had bad cars there years ago and I can see how that could be just miserable if you don’t have a good car. Fun track and a place I really like.”
How technical of a track is Darlington?
“It’s definitely really technical. It’s a track that is really fast but the two ends of the track are completely different, which makes the crew chiefs scratch their heads. It’s hard to get your car working right on both ends, so you have to compromise. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s never going to be comfortable, but you’ve got to figure out a way to be comfortable with it and that’s what I love about Darlington. You are on the ragged edge so much and the tires wear off the car so bad on the long run that you are just on ice. You are sliding and trying to keep the right rear from dragging against the wall and you are just sliding everywhere. I just think it’s so much fun. It’s been a great track for me, I think, just because I like it so much. Hoping we can have a great run there this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Camry and get back to victory lane there.”