The Inside Story Of The Race That Made Martin Truex Jr. A NASCAR Cup Champion

Column By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR – LAS VEGAS, NV – Understandably, the proudest moment of Martin Truex’s racing life was simultaneously a source of enormous frustration for Kyle Busch.

But both drivers recall with indelible clarity the closing laps of the Nov. 19 Ford Eco-Boost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that made Truex a champion and Busch a disappointed runner-up for the title.

For the record, Truex powered his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota across the finish line, with Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota .681 seconds in arrears. But the outcome was in doubt for the final 17 laps, after Busch passed Kevin Harvick for second place on Lap 250 of 267 and took off after Truex, who had claimed the lead off pit road for a restart on Lap 234.

With Busch driving a faster long-run car, Truex found a small patch of grip high in Turn 4 and kept Busch’s Camry in his mirror.

“For me, it’s probably one of my proudest moments, because I got put in that position, and my guys said, ‘Here it is; it’s all up to you now; here’s the lead with 32 laps to go – show us what you’ve got,’” Truex told the NASCAR Wire Service.

“It’s definitely one of the proudest moments of my career to be able to bring it home for them, after all they’ve done for me and giving me the opportunity they have and putting me in a position to be a champion. I was glad I could hold up my end of the deal.”

Though Truex hasn’t watched a replay of the race in its entirety, he relishes the memory of every second of the closing green-flag run.

“I can remember every single one of those laps,” Truex said. “I can remember everything that happened, everything I thought, when I missed the line, when I hit it, and, most importantly, when I found that little patch of grip up there off of Turn 4.

“That was the game-changer for me.”

For Busch, not so much.

“I tried that same patch – it didn’t work for me,” Busch said after Wednesday’s Myers Brothers Awards ceremony in the Encore Theater. “I tried to get as close to the wall as I could off of (Turn) 4. I was way too loose. I just didn’t have the drive-off that I needed, and I think that was a lot to do with being in his wake, just being behind him and having the aero deficiency that I had.”

The final 15 laps weren’t just a two-car battle. Enter Kyle Larson, who charged past Harvick for the third position on Lap 252 and, running against the outside wall, quickly rolled up near Busch’s back bumper and began contemplating his prospects of passing the No. 18.

“I got to third, and I felt like, if I was going to win or pass those guys – which I felt like I could – I needed to pass them before 10 (laps) to go,” said Larson, who was eliminated from championship contention by an engine failure at Kansas Speedway.

“I felt like, once we got to 10 to go, I needed to respect them and kind of let things play out between those two… I didn’t want to screw one guy and not the other.”

Interestingly, Busch contemplated letting Larson pass him in the closing laps.

“I actually though about, with maybe 15 to go, something like that… he (Larson) was really close to me, and I was like, ‘I wonder if I let him go, and he gets in-between us, if he’ll go and try to race Truex and pass Truex and help Truex come back to me,” Busch said.

“So I thought about doing that, but I said I can’t give in to that at this moment of letting somebody else within the battle, because, if he doesn’t go up and pass the 78, he just pushes me further behind. That’s why I stayed the way we were and tried to fight it out.”

With Truex making ground near the top of the track, Busch tried a low line, and with three laps left, he lost momentum off Turn 2. With a head of steam around the top, Larson was there to give the No. 18 a nudge.

“I was hoping to launch him forward, but I kind of got him squirrely,” Larson said. “I’m glad he didn’t hit the wall, because I was just trying to help him out. Not that I wanted him to win over Martin. I just wanted to get him closer to make the racing more exciting, I guess.”

In the moment, Busch understood Larson’s intent.

“I knew that was a moment of help,” Busch said. “It wasn’t a moment of trying to screw with me at all. I knew what that was. It’s just that these cars are so loose on the straightaways, with not a lot of downforce, and of course we were on older tires, with higher air pressure and everything like that, and it got me juked up.

“But I was expecting that, and I was fine with it. It was all good.”

In the end, the bump from Larson didn’t help enough to put Truex’s title in jeopardy. But it helped to make the final 17 laps of the event some of the most riveting in recent memory.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., SHERRY POLLEX WIN MYERS BROTHERS AWARD

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and long-time girlfriend Sherry Pollex earned the prestigious Myers Brothers Award, not for Truex’s accomplishments on the race track, but for their unrelenting generosity off the asphalt.

Pollex has been battling ovarian cancer since her diagnosis in 2014 and recently had a recurrence that has required chemotherapy. Nevertheless, she and Truex have maintained a commitment to charitable causes that took root more than a decade ago.

“It’s been a crazy, crazy year for both of us, both personally and professionally, with my cancer and…,” Pollex said with a catch in her voice.”

“Don’t do that, ‘cause I’m going to cry,” Truex interjected. “This is an unbelievable honor to receive this award. We definitely didn’t see it coming. It was unexpected. Sherry and I have been very fortunate in our lives to have all the things we needed.

“We’ve had great families, great parents that raised us right and taught us right from wrong. I think they probably deserve a lot of the credit for us being who we are and being able to give back and help people… We’ve learned so much from past champions, and just everybody in the sport that’s so willing to give back.

“We don’t deserve all the credit for this. I think we’ve learned a lot of lessons from a lot of people in this room.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI GRATIFIED BY HONORS TO HIS TRUCK TEAM DRIVERS

Brad Keselowski, the 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, won’t be fielding a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team in 2018, but his Brad Keselowski Racing team is departing on a high note.

BKR driver Austin Cindric made the Championship 4 race at Homestead and finished third in the final standings. Teammate Chase Briscoe earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors and was voted the series’ most popular driver.

“I’m proud of him,” Keselowski said of the latter distinction for Briscoe. “I’m proud of the marketing team at BKR as well. They put a lot of effort into that, in trying to promote and do those things and help those guys launch their careers with some kind of star power and branding efforts.

“It’s something we’ve taken very seriously, and it’s good to see it take a foothold.”

Both Briscoe and Cindric will drive partial schedule in Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 XFINITY Series Ford next season, along with RFR development driver Ty Majeski.