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[/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Martin Truex Jr. — Notes & Quotes Talladega Superspeedway – May 4, 2012
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing What is your outlook for this weekend? “I’m looking forward to the weekend here. We’ve had some good runs here in the past and obviously have won some races here. It’s just another weekend. I’m ready to get on the track with the NAPA Toyota and work hard and hopefully have a good day on Sunday.”
How do you view Darlington? “When I look at Darlington, I get excited — I love that race track. It’s one of my favorite tracks. I feel like it’s probably one of my best tracks. I know the average finish is only 12th, which doesn’t sound all that good, but we’ve led a ton of laps there since they repaved it and had cars to be honest, three or four different times that were capable of winning and have been able to get it done. I’m really looking forward to going back there with the momentum we have with our NAPA team and the way our cars are running. I’m really, really looking forward to that race next weekend, I think we have a shot at winning and look forward to going there.”
How do you balance taking risks to win a race but not crash? “It’s just something you live with every day. On the race track, you know. To be honest, we drive on the edge like that every single lap at every single race. That’s no different than when you’re running 10th and trying to pass the guy for ninth. They look dramatic, but they really weren’t. I knew at the time there was a 98 percent chance that they weren’t going to work, that I had to try just to please myself — I just had to try to do something even though I knew it probably wasn’t going to work — I had to try. It really was no different or more out of control than we are every other lap on the race track.”
How much help is it to have Clint Bowyer on your team for a drafting partner? “Well, we’ll find out on Sunday. Depending on how the drafting works, obviously the rule package is a little bit different. I’m not sure the two-car deal is going to be the way to go all day. I don’t think we’re going to be able to stay together as long as we could before, if at all until the end. It’s going to be a different race than the races that Clint (Bowyer) won. To have a teammate that is obviously a proven winner on plate tracks, somebody that I have confidence in that if we can get hooked up together, he’s going to do the right things — that’s really, really cool. We worked very well together at Daytona and that was the first time we had been teammates, at a restrictor plate track. I expect that this time that it will be a little bit easier, we’ll both be a little bit more comfortable and kind of understand the way each other does things. That should make for a better tandem if we’re able to do it long enough at the end.”
Do you prefer tandem or pack racing at superspeedways? “To be honest, I really enjoy the pack racing a lot better. I feel like your destiny is in your own hands a little bit more. There’s still a lot of risks out there with things happening, which always is at plate tracks. I just never really was a fan of having to have somebody push you, having to rely on somebody all the time to stick with you and make the right moves. There were times when you’d want to go and the guy behind you would drag the brake and you’d lose him and you’d have to drag your brake. It’s more fun when you just have to worry about controlling your own car and not worry what somebody else is doing.”
What will the fans reaction be if Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins on Sunday? “They’d probably tear it down. They’d probably tear the stands down. It would be crazy, for sure.”
Do you have any Mother’s Day plans for Darlington? “No special plans. I don’t even know if my parents are coming yet, but hopefully they do. They usually do. It’s pretty cool how they let your mom’s go out and say, ‘Gentlemen, start your engines’ and then they take the ride in the truck around the track with you. I’m looking forward to hopefully mom coming for that. My mom is the one that really took me racing when I was a kid. When I think about that, in that respect, it makes it really, really neat. When my dad was away racing, I was just starting in my karts — she would help me load my go-kart in the trailer or back of the pick-up truck on Saturday afternoons to go out to the race track. She’d drive me out there and just hang out all day and support me. She didn’t know how to do anything, but she was always there supporting me, which was really cool.”
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