Martin Truex Jr.'s crew chief regrets 'terrible decision' to not pit
James Small, Martin Truex Jr.’s crew chief, had to explain a puzzling move that many didn’t agree with following Sunday’s race at Las Vegas.
At the end of the first stage of NASCAR’s Round of 8 Playoff opener, Small decided to leave Truex on track instead of pitting. The move didn’t work out, as the driver sunk like a rock following the decision, and it left Truex in traffic for most of the rest of the day.
Afterwards, Small spoke with NBC Sports, where he elaborated on what he thought was the right call at the time.
“Just trying to make sure we had track position … I thought people might stay out and clearly they didn’t,” Small said, regarding his reasoning for Truex staying out on Lap 83 of 267. “It was just a terrible decision.
“If we had just taken right sides, we would have had the lead and it wouldn’t have been a problem. Just didn’t need to take that kind of risk with arguably a top-three car capable of winning. Just stupid really.”
Moreover, Truex added that he even had thoughts of disobeying his crew chief’s orders, but the No. 19 wheelman decided to listen to Small at the time.
“He told me that pretty late around the corner in (Turns) 3 and 4,” Truex stated. “My gut reaction was don’t do it, don’t stay out.
“I like to listen to my crew chief and do whatever they say no matter what because they know more of what’s going on than you do. Usually, the driver is 90% of the time wrong if they make their own decision or go against the crew chief, so I went with it, but I didn’t feel good about it. Ten laps … here is a lot on tires. … If we could have got a quick caution, it would have worked out great because we had the lead for (seven) laps, but once I got back to third or fourth, it just dropped like a rock.”
Nevertheless, Small and Truex are now looking forward to Homestead, where the crew chief believes they’ll have an awesome shot at winning their way into the Championship 4.
“I thought if we had a clean track, we’d be OK, but clearly that wasn’t the case after about six laps. Then it all went south,” Small said. “Just a bad day behind the wall in general … strategy, pit stops, everything, it was pretty bad. … The cars are fast. They’ve been fast the whole (playoffs), really at these types of tracks. It’s just about having clean races executing.
“Tomorrow’s a new day and looking forward to Homestead. I think we can go win there.”
Time will tell, but the Playoffs have been a struggle thus far for Martin Truex Jr. and his team. Something has to change over the next couple races, or they’re in danger of severely choking at the finish line.