Martin Truex Jr. was dealt a huge blow shortly before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 opener at the Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

Truex Jr.’s No. 19 car failed the pre-race inspection twice and forcing him to the rear of the field. He is the only playoff contender to drop to the rear in such a crucial race.

The Joe Gibbs Racing star was originally on the third row on the starting grid, in fifth place. Truex Jr. admitted that it is not an ideal circumstance; however, he is ready to deal with the situation.

Truex Jr. offers his two cents ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race

“Yeah, I just heard I was. It’s not optimum, its not what you’re hoping for, obviously. I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ve done it a lot this year. It is what it is, we’ll deal with it,” Truex Jr. said to the media.

This instance marks the third time that the No. 19 driver was forced to the back of the grid this year. However, the latest one certainly comes at the wrong time for him.

How Truex Jr. aims to tackle the situation

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All said and done, he has a plan in mind to tackle the new challenge that was hurled at him. Truex Jr., an experienced driver, plans to use the track to good effect and find his way back to the top.

“This place, fortunately, there are a lot of lanes that you can run, really the whole race track works. You just have to go where they are not and pick them off one-by-one,” he expressed.

Truex Jr. has made the championship race on the trot for the past 3 seasons. However, he enters this year’s semi-final round 10 points below the cut-off spot.

While he is confident of overcoming the challenge, his record at Kansas is not the best. He started 24 races there in the past and only has 11 Top-10 finishes and 2 wins to show for them.

Truex Jr. will hope to build on the consistency he’s managed to maintain off-late in the NASCAR Cup Series. But will he be able to do it? We certainly hope so. Fingers crossed!

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