Martin Truex Jr. nearly won the Daytona 500 in Furniture Row Racing’s first race with Toyota. Truex led the most laps last weekend at Texas before a decision not to pit resulted in a sixth-place finish.
He’s been fast at other tracks, leading laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway. Such results were not quite expected early in the year as the team transitioned to Toyota.
It makes one wonder how much better the Denver, Colorado, team will be in the coming weeks.
“We’re still transitioning that relationship and migrating equipment, so we haven’t even begun to realize the fruits of that alliance,” David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday.
Wilson was on “Tradin’ Paint” to discuss Kyle Busch‘s recent streak and Joe Gibbs Racing’s success along with the addition of Furniture Row Racing. The team, among the four that contended for the championship last year in Miami with Truex, joined Toyota after the season. Aligned with Joe Gibbs Racing, Furniture Row Racing appears to have made the transition seamlessly.
“The way I look at their performance is that you could arguably say that Martin Truex Jr. should be sitting on two wins right now, or could be sitting on two wins right now,” Wilson said on the show. “Obviously, Daytona was a fraction of a second and Saturday night (at Texas), again, if you were going to hand it to the fastest car, then Martin could have had the win Saturday night as well. We’re delighted and we’re really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Truex heads to Bristol 11th in the points with three top-10 finishes in the first seven races. He’s led 198 laps this season, ranking fourth on the list. Kyle Busch has led a series-high 520 laps this season.
