While William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. were tied going into the maiden playoff race at Darlington, the first race of the round of 16s altered the situation tremendously. Hendrick Motorsports icon Kyle Larson led the ultimate 55 laps to bag his direct pass to the round of 12s, climbing straight to rank 1. Whereas for underdogs Michael McDowell and Kevin Harvick, it was a dull day.

Hence, the race at Kansas held a lot of prospects moving on to the next round in the playoffs. You win to get in. However, Martin Truex Jr. did not have quite the show and hit the fence early in the race at the 1.5-mile tri-oval racetrack near Kansas City. In an interview moments later, he revealed his true feelings about the unforeseen turn of events.

Goodyear Tires pointed out the primary reason behind Truex’s bad day

Despite having a fast car in qualifying and bagging a top-5 start position on the final race day, Martin Truex Jr. failed to bag the win. The regular-season champion entered the 10-race-long battle in winning contention but fell back to an 18th-place finish after the Southern 500 last weekend. And after finishing yesterday’s race in last place, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver sits 7 points below the cutline.

Moments after the race, Goodyear tires pointed out the reason behind the Martin Truex Jr. mishap. It turns out it was a puncture. According to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, “Goodyear says they found a puncture in the center of the tread on the Truex right rear that was flat.”

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Just around turn 3, Truex seemed to lose control over his #19 Toyota in the 4th of the 268 laps. As a result, he hit the right rear bumper first into the side wall, giving rise to a great deal of smoke, and, ultimately, the car was towed back to the garage.

Martin Truex Jr. revealed his thoughts about his early farewell from the Hollywood Casino 400

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Each race going forward is a mini-round in itself. One just cannot use all the points that one has to their advantage. For example, Martin Truex Jr. had advanced into Darlington with a plus of 36, and after the race, he had a buffer of 25 points. Which, even though great, proves the fact that these decisive races could flunk anyone off the grid at any time.

Martin Truex Jr. had no clue why his otherwise fast car gave up on him so early in the fight. He exclaimed, “Blew tires, not real sure why.”

After a really fast qualifying and practice, Truex perhaps expected to position his number 19 team in an advantageous position before the concluding race of the first round. However, he spoke to Frontstretch, depicting his misfortune.

“Real shame, obviously,” he said, “Car was really fast in practice and qualifying and then I knew something was up right away. Crazy tight but I didn’t expect the tire to blow out. Very unlucky, I mean, we were gonna have an awesome day I felt really good about it.”

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With 2056 points, Martin Truex Jr. sits below Kevin Harvick and just above 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace. He has to secure some good stage points, perhaps even the win, in order to fare well in the upcoming races and enter the round of 12.