The 66th running of the Daytona 500 was one that was filled with chaos and big crashes. The race saw five cautions, including one on the last lap which caused The Great American Race to finish under the yellow flag. Needless to say, the Daytona 500 was a stressful affair and while a majority of the drivers were frustrated with each other during the race,  Martin Truex Jr seemed to be the only one who was annoyed with his own spotter. And he made his feelings crystal clear on the team radio.

The opening race of the Cup Series season is one that every single driver wants to win at least once in their careers. So the competition every year in the event is pretty intense. 2024 was no exception with a lot of pushing and shoving, especially towards the closing stages of the race. At the end of the day, the way things unfolded ultimately left a lot of fans disappointed.

James Small’s impatience was too much for Martin Truex Jr to deal with

One of the biggest crashes of the race took place with just 9 laps remaining when eventual race winner William Byron turned Brad Keselowski. That contact set off a chain reaction which resulted in the big one, collecting multiple drivers who were considered favorites. Joey Logano was especially frustrated after he crashed out as he threw his steering wheel away in disgust.

Martin Truex Jr, however, was not one of the drivers whose race ended prematurely due to that crash. He dived into the pits to get a change of tires amidst the chaos. However, his spotter, James Small, had the fear that once the red flag fell, things may get dicey for the driver of the #19. So he made his feelings known which was not well received by Truex.

“Get the ****** thing up before they red flag it! Get the ****** right front (tire) off,” Small was heard screaming on the team radio. This annoyed the former Cup Series champion whose focus might have been disturbed as a result. “Blowing everyone’s eardrums out ain’t going to help ****, so just calm the **** down,” the Joe Gibbs Racing star replied.

Truex was able to finish P15 in the race, the same position he finished during last season. The defending regular-season champion may have hoped for a top-10 finish as, with age not being by his side, the driver might be looking at his last season as a full-timer. 

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The 43-year-old driver spoke about that before the race in an interview on SiriusXM. He explained how getting to the end of races like the Daytona 500 has been a struggle as Truex is not the best at superspeedway racing. His future is still up in the air and perhaps this was the last time fans saw him race as a full-timer in The Great American Race as his contract is up at the end of the year.

“We’ve been in the mix a lot, and I feel like every time we make it to the end of any of these races, we’re in the mix and we have a shot at it. Just haven’t figured out how to make the right moves at the end. But man, it’s been a struggle to get to the end of these things… Some sorta adversity always seems to happen so we’ll see, we’re here to keep trying and we’re going to give it our all,” the JGR star had said.

It will be interesting to see how the motorsports veteran performs this season. One thing is for certain though, there will be no lack of fighting spirit from Martin Truex Jr, who is one of the modern-day greats.

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