Both Truex brothers to race this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway
Both Truex brothers will be in action this weekend when NASCAR’s top two series visit Texas Motor Speedway.
Ryan, 32, will be in the No. 20 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra in the Xfinity Series race Saturday afternoon. Martin Jr., 43, will drive the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE in the Cup Series race Sunday afternoon. They both will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Coming off a season-worst 18th place finish at Martinsville, Truex Jr. is second in Cup points, behind Kyle Larson, through eight of 36 races. He’s been a consistently strong performer this season who has contended for victories that have not yet come for one reason or another.
“I feel good about where we are at. We’ve had a top-three to top-five car every week, every race, with the exception of Martinsville last week,” he said in a JGR release. “We haven’t quite capitalized on that over the course of some of these races, some of it in our control and other stuff that just hasn’t worked out. We’ve been really consistent.
“We’ve been working on cleaning up some mistakes in several areas. I know the guys have been busting their tails working on pit stops. If we can clean that up a bit and they can get some confidence and get consistently fast — our cars are great and the team is doing a great job — and clicking and working hard, and hopefully we can get our first win of the season here really soon. We have had some fast cars at a lot of these places.”
He has yet to win a Cup race at the Texas, but he’s twice finished second and had five top-five finishes at the 1.5-mile layout.
“It’s been a few different things over the years. It’s always been a good track for us. In 2022, we were leading and we blew a tire. It’s been one of those places where we have been snakebit a lot. We’ve had some good runs, we’ve had some struggles at times since they repaved it. Just one of those things, but I feel confident going there with what we have that we’ll run well, especially how we ran there the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s been tough, we’ve gotten a lot of poles there and led a lot of laps, but we just haven’t been able to win there.”
But no matter the track, the competition has gotten tighter throughout the sport, he added.
“Ever since we went to the NextGen car (in 2022), everything has been closer, and you can see that in the standings, as well — it’s pretty tight. It is harder to find an advantage, it’s harder to run at the front every week consistently. Everything is tighter, closer together, less room for error, and you really have to be on top of things.”
Ryan Truex is driving a part-time schedule for Gibbs. He finished 21st in the season-opening race at Daytona on Feb. 19 and ninth at Atlanta five days later, so he’s had a long layoff. But Saturday’s race will kick off a stretch in which he’ll be behind the wheel for three consecutive races, including April 21 at Talladega and April 28 at Dover.
“Well, for starters, it helps when you have a great team behind you,” he said in a JGR release. “I’ve become a bit conditioned to the part-time role over the years, which makes a difference as well. Naturally its harder to compete when you’re not in the car every week, but it also adds that motivation to perform. Every race feels like the golden opportunity to prove myself, and there’s a healthy type of pressure that comes with that.”
In five Xfinity Series races at Texas, he has a best finish of sixth place in 2022.
“I spend a ton of time in the sim in my off weeks as well, he said, “so I’ve been staying sharp, and I feel fully prepared to go out there and compete this weekend in Texas.”
