Martin Truex Jr. has left his playoff fate in the hands of other drivers after an early wreck with defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney at Darlington Raceway. The crash damaged Truex's chances of qualifying for the playoffs on points. Truex lost control of his car on the third lap of the Southern 500 and slid into Blaney.
Kyle Larson leads Todd Gilliland , Joey Logano , Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney through the front stretch during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Daytona Beach, Fla. FILE - Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. drive during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Michigan International Speedway, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Brooklyn, Mich.
Truex, the 2017 champion, came in 58 points ahead of the cutoff line to reach the playoffs, which start next week at Atlanta. He said Saturday that he felt good about his position at 14th on the playoff grid entering the weekend. The wreck left the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in his last full season spending the rest of the 500-mile race hoping others behind him wouldn’t do enough on the track to knock him out.Truex said he had a run on William Byron’s No. 24 when the car got away from him.Blaney, like Truex, was taken to the care center. The Team Penske driver said he was hurting at first, but felt like he’d be OK going forward as he prepares to defend his series title beginning next week in Atlanta.
“I saw Martin get loose, and I thought he was going to spin to the bottom, so I kind of gassed up to get around him, but it was just terrible timing,” Blaney said. “He overcorrected, and we were just right there.”Two-time NASCAR champ Kyle Busch puts aside problems, focuses on Darlington win to reach playoffsTruex’s JGR teammate Ty Gibbs entered without a win in 15th, while Chris Buescher of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing was on the playoff bubble in 16th.
Bubba Wallace, who started from the pole, was the first man out of playoff position, 21 points behind Buescher when the race began.“It sucks. We just had a miserable two months,” he said. “Tonight was on me, sorry to my team and all the guys who work so hard.”
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