All eyes were on Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 after a wreck fest of a race at Daytona International Speedway in the season-opener. The Cup Series’ second points race was an epic feast for the community, nullifying the negative criticism of the “Great American Race,” delivering more than what the race had offered, including that three-wide finish.

While the fandom loved the photo finish and the intensity the drivers brought to the track, the mile-and-a-half track saw the biggest pile-up in its storied history when Todd Gilliland triggered a massive pile-up that got the best of champions like Martin Truex Jr and Chase Elliott.

With NASCAR releasing its fan-favorite Radioactive segment, the fandom got a vivid picture of what went down in the lap 2 wreck that collected 16 cars. In the brief 5-minute video we see Richard Childress’ grandson, the #3 driver venting out his frustration as the pack stacks up, blaming Truex Jr for not reacting, saying, “They’re checking(up) and he can’t check?” 

Composed Martin Truex Jr shrugs off Dillon’s jibe at Atlanta

Except for 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace and Truex Jr’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, who finished the race fifth and 10th, none of the Toyotas got what they set out for. Even veteran drivers like MTJ and Denny Hamlin failed to fire. In fact, the #19 driver who started the race from the 12th spot finished at the same spot, picking up 36 points whereas his fellow veteran teammate, Hamlin, finished with 14 points in the 23rd place.

The 43-year-old veteran who usually doesn’t go by the book, adopting the usual tit-for-tat strategy of the field, remained calm when the cars were packing up one next to the other before everything fell apart. In the Radioactive segment, Truex Jr relays to his team, “Good lord, why’d they stack up so damn hard? I was getting nailed from behind,” staying composed while Dillon was actually blaming the #19 for not reacting to the contact, saying, “Fu**ing #19, man. They’re checking (up) and he can’t check?”

The 2017 Cup Series champion was one among the 16 drivers who got caught in the early mishap that shocked the community. It was the biggest pile-up ever in the history of the track and it had compound effects on several drivers, as the early damage kept the drivers from unleashing their cars’ true potential. Though he was not adversely affected in the lap 2 meltdown, Truex Jr was right there when hell broke loose, getting banged up in the middle as Gilliland slowed down the pace, essentially stacking the whole field up.

Can the JGR veteran snag a win before retirement?

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Out of 28 career Cup Series starts at the mile-and-a-half-track in Atlanta, Georgia, JGR veteran Martin Truex Jr has finished second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth but never has tasted success at the track. He has six top-5 finishes, and 13 top-10 finishes and has successfully led 388 laps with an average finish rate of 15.6.

Heading to Sunday’s feature, Truex Jr was hopeful of securing his first W at the venue but the driver will have to wait for some time as the ‘Big One’ early on in the race disrupted his rhythm just like it did for the rest 15 drivers. With that being said, despite the early wreck, the veteran managed to salvage what he could and got him with a decent finish just outside the top 10, finishing at 12th, exactly where he started.

Winless at Superspeedways, Martin Truex Jr. Levels With Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a Shocking Feat

With the driver now expressing his skepticism about a possible retirement after this season, can Truex Jr get one in the bag here in Atlanta before he bids farewell to the sport? Well, we don’t know for certain, but one thing that is certain is the driver’s talent behind the wheel and if he can find the rhythm he had in the start of 2023, he certainly can dominate Atlanta.