Martin Truex Jr. still believes his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate jumped him on the final restart at Richmond Raceway last weekend.
“My opinion is the same,” Truex said Saturday of Denny Hamlin.
The two sides resumed overtime side by side, with Truex on the outside of Hamlin. Hamlin defeated Truex from pit road to take the top spot and become the race leader. Until the caution, Truex was in control of the race, leading 228 laps.
NASCAR initially did not penalize Hamlin after saying it was a “terribly close race” on the restart. Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said two days later that because Hamlin finished early, the race could have been judged differently earlier in the race.
Truex is not negotiating with NASCAR. The former Cup Series champion also said he doesn’t know the restart rules and doesn’t think anyone else does either.
“I saw what was said,” Truex said of NASCAR’s explanation. “I read what they said, and I heard Elton Sawyer say that if it happened with 50 more people, 100 more people, 300 more people, they might have called. It’s as clear as mud.”
As the series moves to Martinsville Speedway, there has been talk of how closely NASCAR will monitor restart zones. As a result, some drivers believe everyone will do their best to avoid penalties. Truex is one of them. In a sense.
“If you try to jump, I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a penalty,” Truex said. “I don’t know. I don’t really understand. It’s a black and white rule. When you get to the box, you’re off. I don’t really understand all the questions. If you go first, you should be punished.”
Truex said he doesn’t know the answer to whether NASCAR needs additional restart rules or something to crack down on them. The race leader, the control car, must fire first somewhere between the two lines designated as the restart zone.
“It’s hard to follow the rules, but it doesn’t get you in trouble if someone breaks the rules,” Truex said. “ridiculous.”
Even though questions remain about what happened in Richmond, Truex said there was water under the bridge last weekend. On Saturday, he qualified fourth at Martinsville Speedway and has won three of the last 10 races.
“This is a race, it’s over,” Truex said. “It was frustrating. It’s frustrating to lead the whole race, dominate the race, and then just be done, because I think this is the fifth or sixth time this has happened at Richmond. I mean, it’s just frustrating. , it all adds up in a short period of time, just 10 or 15 minutes.
“I obviously lost my cool and did something that I’m probably not proud of. But I hope I can move on to the next week and come out on top and do a better job.”
