In a race that saw Joe Gibbs Racing and Christopher Bell emerge as the headline of Phoenix I, it was teammate Martin Truex Jr’s late-race fuel gamble that paved the way for the #20 driver to avenge his championship heartbreak after the season finale last fall.

The 43-year-old New Jersey just missed the top 10 for qualifying and started P11, behind his teammates P1 Denny Hamlin and P2 Ty Gibbs in a perfect front-row sweep for Coach Gibbs’ gloried organization. Ironically Bell was the only JGR driver to start behind MTJ’s #19 Toyota. Truex Jr has now recorded two back-to-back P7 finishes in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series. However, it could have very well been the #19 car instead of the #20 embracing the showers of victory lane confetti.

Martin Truex Jr’s Conflicting Emotions Brought to Light by Bubba Wallace’s Spotter

After a late-race caution triggered by Hamlin in his #11 JGR Toyota influenced MTJ to stay out of the pits in hopes of more chances to refuel. Truex Jr ended up miscalculating the mileage forcing him to pit with just 40 laps left, which in turn gifted Christopher Bell his 7th Cup Series victory.

The two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner was also the last driver to win at Phoenix for JGR and Toyota. Maybe Truex Jr had flashbacks from 2021 as he made an incredible surge forward from a lap deficit to emerge as the third top-10 finisher for Joe Gibbs Racing. This exhilarating run for MTJ and Toyota was brought up in recent discussions by spotters, Freddie Kraft, TJ Majors, and Brett Griffin on their controversial podcast – Door Bumper Clear.

It was 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace’s spotter Kraft that brought up MTJ’s conflicting emotions on race day leaving listeners with some food for thought. He referred to Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi’s discussions over the Phoenix race on their own podcast, “The Teardown.”  Kraft said, “You look back and I listened to Gluck last night. He talked about Truex saying the package is better, you could move around a little more and you could pass. That was after he just after he drove through the whole field.” 

The #23 spotter then referenced MTJ’s mid-race conversations with the FOX broadcast team where he sounded a little frustrated. Kraft explains what MTJ says better: “In the middle of the race he was b*tching, ‘This thing’s f*cking terrible’ and you can’t pass and all that so it’s just circumstantial.”

“I am sure my view is skewed because it didn’t matter what we did yesterday…” concluded Kraft lamenting a little about his own problem at Phoenix with another Toyota driver – The #23.

Freddie Kraft on Bubba Wallace and Team #23

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TJ Majors, spotter for RFK’s Brad Keselowski was the one who brought up the issues of the new short-track package stating, “One thing I did notice and maybe Freddie saw it too is I felt like the cars were looser through off of (Turn) four than normal.”

This prompted a swift reply from Kraft as he said in an astute observation, “Yeah. You could definitely notice. You noticed it big!” 

Wallace and his US Air Force-backed #23 Camry was the 9th fastest in practice. He qualified at the 23rd position and moved up 7 spots to finish the race at P16. The only other Toyotas to finish below him were the #19 and #43 of Legacy Motor Club. His teammate Tyler Reddick won Stage 1 and rounded off the 10 spot, after coming off of an impressive display finishing behind Vegas winner Kyle Larson on March 3rd’s spring race.

Wallace had some choice words after the race in Phoenix, stating the new aero package felt no different, even telling Frontstretch that the new changes feel “like ‘23.” 

His spotter had his own observations, however, which he had been making right from Friday’s practice.  Kraft said, “Especially practice. Firing off practice. I mean Bubba he went by in practice. He was tight on that wall, around the start-finish line, and on both days I noticed he scuffed the left rear, and the majority of the cars had a little scuff around the right rear wheel well.” Goodyear’s new 18s have also been a hot topic of discussion this year. How will it affect MTJ and the rest of the Toyotas to fare better in Bristol? We find out on March 17th,

NASCAR’s Goodyear Experiment at Phoenix Seems to Bust as Practice Results Disappoint