Martin Truex Jr. Still Trying to ‘Figure Out’ Talladega Ahead of GEICO 500

This Sunday will be the 37th start at Talladega for Martin Truex Jr. He still hasn’t found out how to handle the 2.66-mile track. Talladega Superspeedway is a tricky one to figure out for many NASCAR drivers. It feels like Truex has been on the verge many times, but has never broken through.

Despite some excellent qualifying runs at Talladega throughout his career, Martin Truex Jr. has only finished in the top 10 once since 2016. That was a P5 finish in last year’s GEICO 500. Just to give you an idea of how bad his luck on the track has been compared to his qualifying times, I’ll give you the numbers.

In his last 10 starts at Talladega, Truex Jr.’s average starting position was 8.9. His average finishing position in those 10 races is 21.5. That’s a huge gap that shows the struggles the 19 driver has had, dating back to his time in the 56 and 78 cars.

Truex knows he struggles at Dega.

“Still trying to figure out how to get that first win at Talladega,” the JGR driver said, via NASCAR. “We’ve been close there before and ran really strong there last year with our Bass Pro Shops Camy, so just looking to build on that and focus on what it’s going to take to try and get our first win there.”

Of course, it has to be frustrating when you have a teammate like Denny Hamlin who has made these superspeedway wins look easy in the past. Martin Truex Jr. thought he had the numbers on his side for Daytona this year, but maybe it was Talladega he was waiting for.

Martin Truex Jr. Following Up Season-Best Finish

Had last week’s race at Martinsville been 500 laps like it used to be and not 400, then Martin Truex Jr. might have pulled off a win. While e had no way of catching Joey Logano and Kyle Larson last week, Truex had a season-best finish. Any time you can take home P3, take it and get on to the next week.

After his win at the Busch Light Clash this year, we all thought we would see a different Truex. Honestly, it has been different. He is sitting pretty in the points standings. He doesn’t have a win to his name yet, but that is surely going to change soon.

Then again, many fans thought the same thing last season. However, Truex would go on to miss the playoffs by a mere three points to Ryan Blaney. The point is, get the win and you don’t have to worry about three points at the end of the year.

At Talladega, anything can happen. So, why not Martin Truex Jr.?