{"id":68694,"date":"2024-09-01T17:51:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-01T22:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=68694"},"modified":"2024-09-01T17:51:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T22:51:29","slug":"martin-truex-jr-considers-possibility-of-missing-playoffs-at-darlington-ive-seen-crazy-things-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/martin-truex-jr-considers-possibility-of-missing-playoffs-at-darlington-ive-seen-crazy-things-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Truex Jr. considers possibility of missing playoffs at Darlington: \u2018I\u2019ve seen crazy things happen\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin Truex Jr. isn\u2019t exactly at risk of falling below the playoff cutline but as the old saying goes, anything can happen. <\/p>\n

Heading into Sunday\u2019s Southern 500 at Darlington, the final race of the regular season, Truex is 58 points clear of the cutline. While a third career win at The Lady in Black would be ideal, Truex doesn\u2019t feel too anxious about his playoff positioning, that is, barring something crazy. In fact, a P18 finish or better guarantees his spot in the 16-driver postseason field.<\/p>\n

\n\n

Martin Truex Jr. would need to have a total collapse and at least a couple of drivers to have huge days for him to miss the playoffs. He’s in for sure if he is 18th or better \u2026 and unlikely has to be that good \u2026 and he’s in if there is no new winner \u2026 but \u2026 pic.twitter.com\/kdoDDiy0yE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI hate to even talk about it because I\u2019ve seen crazy things happen in my time doing this,\u201d Truex said Saturday, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe should be fine. Hopefully nothing out of our control happens and that\u2019s really what it\u2019s gonna take to get us out of there. If we can just run a smart race, have no failures, nothing crazy happen, we don\u2019t get run over or crash or whatever early, we will be fine. Excited about our car. Thought it was really close today and best one I\u2019ve had here in a couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truex\u2019s final full-time season in the NASCAR<\/a><\/strong> Cup Series has been uneven to say the least, with the future Hall of Famer winless through 25 races. Even more concerning is that Truex has finished 24th or worse in eight of the last 11 races. That includes a current streak of four consecutive finishes outside the top-20. <\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. on the struggle bus going into Darlington<\/h2>\n

So, yeah, Truex isn\u2019t exactly going into the playoffs riding a wave of momentum. If anything, it\u2019s as inconsistent as he\u2019s been since joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019. The good news is that Truex has a fast racecar this weekend. He will start fifth at Darlington, the best performing JGR driver during Saturday\u2019s qualifying session. <\/p>\n

Truex\u2019s teammate, Ty Gibbs, is facing a more stressful situation, just 39 points clear of the cutline. Gibbs has tallied back-to-back top 5s and would love to get his first career Cup Series win at Darlington in one of NASCAR\u2019s crown jewel events. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the speed to go win it,\u201d Gibbs said. \u201cI think it would be cool to get my first win at the Southern 500. That would be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Martin Truex Jr. considers possibility of missing playoffs at Darlington: \u2018I\u2019ve seen crazy things happen\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martin Truex Jr. isn\u2019t exactly at risk of falling below the playoff cutline but as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68738,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68694\/revisions\/68738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}