If Martin Truex Jr had a time machine, he would definitely use it to return to the last laps of the Richmond race. Dominating over half of the 400-lap race is no small achievement. The seasoned JGR driver pinned his hopes to Richmond to finally clinch that elusive win. But 23XI’s No. 23 team threw a wrench in his plans.

Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson sparred on lap 398, both competing to hold on to 4th place. But Wallace’s contact ended up spinning Larson and setting off a trail of smoke. Part of that smoke came from MTJ’s crashed plans for a victory. And Wallace’s spotter is no less apologetic about it.

#23 spotter feels guilty about ruining Martin Truex Jr’s hard work

The Toyota Owners 400 race is not the first time MTJ found his hopes getting dashed after leading most of the laps. This occasion marked the seventh time in nine Cup Series races since 2020 that he faced a similar situation. Despite leading at least 100 laps in all of them, Martin Truex Jr failed to swerve into Victory Lane. 

It is no wonder that the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has a heavy heart. And one of the people who caused his Richmond woes is ready to sympathize with him. Door Bumper Clear co-host Freddie Kraft is Bubba Wallace’s spotter, and he extended his support for Martin Truex Jr’s tremendous that, in the end, could not prove as fruitful as he would have liked them to be. 

Kraft validated Truex’s surging emotions, saying, “I completely understand. I see him getting a lot of sh*t for being a crybaby…I was like, he should be mad. He was going to win the race. Then the yellow comes out, he gets beat off pit road, probably makes him madder. Denny jumps the start, probably makes him madder.”

Then his colleague, Brett Griffin, analyzed the situation in detail. “He had three things go really really wrong. You know, Bubba wrecked Larson. Martin Truex didn’t win the pit scenario. Martin Truex didn’t win the restart scenario. Martin Truex didn’t win any scenario that helped him win the race at the end after leading over 100 laps…So I think all those things just add to Martin’s fire of why he was so upset. I mean, he was deservingly going to win the race until you wrecked Kyle Larson.” 

Then Griffin added, “So congrats Freddie for f**king up the whole thing.” To this, Kraft hung his head apologetically and admitted, “My bad”.

The NASCAR community saluted Martin Truex Jr’s skills and hard work. Hamlin’s super-fast pit work and controversial restart hit the nail in the coffin of Truex’s efforts. Even their team owner empathized with his driver’s bad luck.

Joe Gibbs ‘feels for’ his heart-ache riddled driver

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Martin Truex Jr fought out battles with his JGR teammate earlier this year. Both Truex and Hamlin reined in the tire-wear race at Bristol, and Truex came dangerously close to beating Hamlin, yet could not. Now after Richmond, Hamlin’s borderline illegal tactics stung him, and he bumped his teammate’s rear. Asked if Truex would face a penalty for this, Joe Gibbs spoke in an entirely contrasting tone.

He felt deeply about Truex’s struggles. “You’re happy for Denny certainly and everything that happened tonight for him, but then you see Martin, how hard he fought for this, how much he wanted it,” Gibbs explained. “That’s part of our sport. It’s really hard. You see these guys when it gets down towards the end of these races, they’re going for it because they are really hard to win…You really feel for them when they go through a night like Martin went through this night. You just feel for them.”

Martin Truex Jr can be likened to a hero, as the NASCAR community rallies behind the driver who currently ranks 1st.

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