The elimination edge has become a cliff that Martin Truex Jr has gotten rather accustomed to in the 2023 playoffs. After a monstrous regular season, the driver stumbled at each of the postseason tracks and yet, has somehow found his way to the Round of 8. But this run of favorable winds might not carry on for long. Approaching the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville, the #19 driver of Joe Gibbs Racing faces a must-win scenario to guarantee his place in the Championship 4.

While many who supported his claim for the throne earlier have now dropped off, Steve Letarte, ex-Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, is still thrilled by the idea of the 2017 champion surviving Martinsville. Letarte has recently given his unfiltered take after Truex lost his advantage as a regular season champion to fall 17 below the cutline.

The Ups and Downs of the No.19 team leaves Steve Letarte bewildered

NASCAR has always thrown unbelievable surprises our way. No one season has ever been like the other. And 2023 is no exception. Starting from the downfall of Chase Elliott to the marvel of William Byron, we have witnessed astonishing spectacles all year. So, in all possibilities, a turnaround from the No.19 team is still possible. But the worrying fact about that hope is that it has been dwindling around for a long time now.

Every week, fans expect that the crew and the driver will find order and win a race. Every week, they end up disappointed. The No.19 team’s performance graph over the last couple of years has been all over the place. Reflecting on it, Letarte said to NBC’s Nate Ryan, “Is he coming back? Is he coming back? Is he coming back? That’s been the last couple of years. He missed the playoffs, um, he announces he is coming back earlier this year with a monster regular season and the playoffs have been just so bad. (…) I can’t think of a team that’s quite had the ups and downs they’ve had in the last say 20 months.”

Watch This Story: The Unfortunate Gamble: Martin Truex Jr.’s NASCAR Cup Playoff Upset

Recent weeks have been all downs for Truex Jr. The latest blow was at Homestead-Miami where he finished P26. Despite the lifelessness that the team has displayed in the playoffs, Letarte was visibly pleased with the prospect of them causing a major upset.

The ex-crew chief is excited by the idea of Martin Truex Jr choosing Martinsville to make his comeback

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After a terrible outing in the first two playoff rounds, the tracks at Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami, and Martinsville were supposed to be the arcs of Truex Jr’s redemption. In the past, he has been extremely good at these destinations. However, he hasn’t been able to carry that expertise this year. His result at Las Vegas was his best in the postseason. And he ran well in Miami until engine problems got him. Clearly, neither of those results is sufficient.

The 2017 champion has one more shot. In Letarte’s words, “You know I will say this this is. Going to sound crazy, but if the #19 wins Martinsville… Sometimes walking out of the lowest of lows to the highest of highs is like a, you know, it’s like that adrenaline, right? You can get injured and you can walk on a broken leg for a mile because you didn’t know it was broken and then when the adrenaline comes in, you can’t even stand. (…) It’s hard to do at a track like Martinsville, but if they ride the ship in the last race of the playoffs before Phoenix… Man oh man, would it be…”

Just like Vegas and Miami, the #19 driver has a great track record in the 500 laps of Martinsville too. Over his last 7 appearances in the track, he has 4 top-10 finishes and 2 victories. Should he not hear any bad calls from James Small, his crew chief, or have issues with his car, the 43-year-old might just scrape through to Phoenix after everything.

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