Truex, Not Stenhouse, in the Wrong at ATL

Martin Truex Jr. put together a valiant effort to run down and catch leader Brad Keselowski in the closing laps of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. Unfortunately for Truex and his fans, that effort came up a few hundred feet short as Keselowski beat him to the line to win the race.

MTJ claimed that his #19 Bass Pro Shops team for Joe Gibbs Racing had the best car and that they should have won the race. Did he credit Keselowski for beating him? No. Did he say, “Eh, we just weren’t good enough today?” Nope. Did he say that they fought hard but couldn’t get around the 2? No, sir.

Truex blamed lapped traffic for costing him the race win. Specifically he had an issue with the actions of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the 17 car. Truex said, “He just kept hugging the bottom, hugging the bottom, hugging the bottom and knew that’s where I needed to run.” Stenhouse was one of the cars a lap down that had to restart behind the leaders but in front of the wave-around lead-lap cars (I don’t write the rules). He was racing for the “lucky dog” position (1st car one lap down at the time of caution gets a lap back).

Truex believed that Stenhouse should have just moved over and given him whatever real estate he wanted on the race track. No way. Stenhouse has every right to any part of the racetrack he wants as long as he gives Truex enough room to pass, and doesn’t race him door-to-door. He shouldn’t have to give up the 19’s preferred line. If Truex’s car wasn’t good enough to pass Stenhouse on the outside, than boo-hoo, try something else. To paraphrase Sirius XM’s Mojo Nixon, “last time I checked this was a race. They’re supposed to be racing, not moving out of each other’s way.”

I tend to think that Stenhouse may have received some team orders from Ford, who openly states their teams race for the greater good of the manufacturer. They likely wanted Stenhouse to do anything to make sure a Toyota didn’t win in consecutive weeks.

Whether it was a team order or not, however, is irrelevant. Stenhouse was racing hard for the “lucky dog,” and has every right to whatever part of the track he chooses.

This is the second instance in the last five races of MTJ whining (yeah I said it!) about something that happened to him in the closing laps to cost him the race (see Martinsville, fall 2018). Instead of complaining about it, he needs to step up and do something about it. Get rid of the Garage Good Guy reputation and put the ol’ chrome horn to somebody.