NASCAR CUP SERIES: COKE ZERO 400

August 26, 2023

Martin Truex

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: All right, we are going to roll right into your post race interviews. We are now joined by our regular-season champion, Martin Truex Jr.

Martin, you won the inaugural regular-season championship, you just won your second. How does it feel to have this momentum going into the Playoffs?

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, thanks. It feels great. Obviously at the beginning of the year you set out to be the best. For the regular season championship, it's a huge deal, the 15 points that come along with it are very, very important for the Playoffs.

Just really proud of my team. Thankful to turn it around from last year, missing the Playoffs, to being here tonight is a big deal for all of us. Thankful to all our partners and everybody that makes this happen. Hopefully we can keep this going throughout the Playoffs.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did you run that race any differently knowing the regular-season championship and the 15 bonus points were within your grasp?

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think early on we kind of tried to do all we could to stay at the front. Was fortunate enough to have our teammates around us and be able to get the stage one win. That was a big deal.

As soon as the 11 car had his issue in stage two, we kind of got shuffled back a little bit, I felt like I was in a really bad spot. I decided to bail. Luckily I did because huge pileup a few laps later.

Didn't really get to race the way I wanted to once we kind of got in that position. The 11 was a lap down. We just kind of had to be smart about it. It wasn't a whole lot of fun, but we had to do what we had to do.

We definitely raced different than we would have had the 11 not had his issues.

Q. It seems like every time we come to Daytona, Talladega, the Fords are lights out. You're looking for your first superspeedway win. What do you observe from your keen eye that you see with those cars that Toyota is just missing a little bit, other than strength in numbers?

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, there's a few things. I think strength in numbers is one. Obviously they're really fast. They're low drag compared to us, I would say. That is kind of why we show up at some better downforce tracks a little faster.

Another key is they can push really well with their bumpers the way they line up.

Our car is fast. My car was fast tonight. We don't have a lot of people that wanted to work with us. Our car is a little squirrelly when pushing or being pushed. Kind of one of those things we have to deal with.

They have great drivers as well. They have a good game plan. They stick together. They're tough to beat here, for sure.

Q. You're not a real emotional guy. From missing last year to being the regular-season points champion, what does that say? Just a testament to how the 19 buckled down and went to work?

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, no question. I think the 19 team, not only that, but everybody at JGR, TRD, Toyota, just as a whole, as a group, we've won a lot more races this year, had a lot more speed across the board with all of our cars.

For me, just my guys, really buckling down, like you said, finding things that I need, finding things that stuck out that we could work on for me, has been a huge help.

Just it's fun to go to the track and know they're going to give me something I can go out and win with almost every single weekend. We didn't have that last year. It's a lot of fun to race that way. We've got it right now. Hopefully we can have it for 10 more weeks and go out on top here.

THE MODERATOR: Martin, congratulations and thank you for your time.

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Thank you.