Martin Truex Jr is frustrated. Despite having a top 3 car, just a callous mistake resulted in what could have been a shot at the Championship title. The regular season points champion has been quite impressive, if not dominant throughout the entire season, earning wins thrice at the Dover Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. However, that winning spree didn’t carry enough momentum to get him through the last 10 races.

The playoffs have been a bummer for the New Jersey resident. One week his tire goes flat while on another, his engine blows off. This time, it was a pit road penalty. It’s almost like bad luck has pledged its loyalty to the #19 team. Although the driver took the blame this time, a NASCAR vet felt like it was the team’s fault more than it was Truex Jr‘s.

Hall of Famer acquitted Martin Truex Jr of self-imposed charges

Martin Truex Jr was told by his team that if he left the pit road with 4 red lights on his dashboard, he would be fine and out of danger. But Truex Jr revealed that he had started speeding right when there were only two lights. Needless to say, the Joe Gibbs Racing sensation took the blame for that one. However, Dale Jarrett wouldn’t agree.

While a driver is all buckled up to a high horsepower machine, there isn’t a lot they can do other than drive the car. It’s the spotter and the crew chief who is responsible for navigating him through the race. And that’s where, according to Dale Jarrett, the #19 team failed.

Undoubtedly, James Small has been pioneering the team throughout the entire season to the point that Martin Truex Jr entered the postseason with a bag full of bonus points from winning the regular season championship. Jarrett admitted, “There’s a lot of great things about James Small that make us appreciate who he is and what he does and give him good cars and they won the regular championship so obviously he knows what to do.”

From a speed point of view, Ryan Blaney definitely had the faster car than Truex, but had they not suffered from that unfortunate penalty on lap 219, Truex could perhaps have wound up with a better performance. Jarrett didn’t hold Truex responsible for this. He said, “I still go back and say, you can’t put much of this on Martin Truex Jr. As you’re talking about the wrong information that he was given . You only go off of what they tell you. It was just another of the races in this championship round that that team just didn’t perform.”

“I don’t know if it’s the leadership, but this was from a performance level, from a high-level race team. They go win the pole they have a fast car and they find a way to mess that up. It was just hard to watch this. I think that they have some real searching and soul searching to do to decide what they’re gonna do to be better when next year come around,” he added.

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Unfortunately, James Small faced the heat from the fans as they held Small responsible for Truex Jr’s playoff worries. Some of them even went as far as urging Joe Gibbs Racing to fire James Small.

Fans vehemently thrash James Small for ruining Truex Jr’s shot

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The #19 team put up a fast lap of 94.153 mph, beating Ty Gibbs to secure their third like of the season and second consecutive pole win. That was the boost they needed to go and win. Everything looked good for Martin Truex Jr. Had he not suffered from the pit road penalty, the narrative could have been different.

Someone said, “Need a new crew chief since last yr!”
While another wrote, “What the hell happened theSe past 9 races… pathetic.”
A motorsport enthusiast wrote “Fire James Small and entire pit crew. Hire Mickey Mouse as Crew Chief and Little Rascals as pit crew. Can’t get any effing worse!”, while another said “Very disappointing playoffs”

The hate for James Small just wouldn’t stop. On that note, a user exclaimed, “James Smalls needs to have 1 more year to correct his pit deficiency (pit crew car setup strategy). If not no driver should have to put up with his ineptitude”
Someone went as far as saying, “#FIREJAMESSMALL.”
Meanwhile, someone wrote, “I wish Small would have yelled and swore at Truex when he made his mistake.”

What are your thoughts on Martin Truex Jr’s latest misery? Do you think it was a fault on his crew chief’s part or perhaps he should have overruled his Small’s instructions and held his ground? Do let us know!

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