The NASCAR 2016 season got under way last Saturday with the Sprint Unlimited race in Daytona Beach, Fla., and will propel forward with the renowned Daytona 500 this Sunday, Feb. 21. Martin Truex Jr., driver for Denver’s own Furniture Row Racing, is confident going into this season and looks for it to be lucrative for him and his team.
“There was more anticipation this winter than most,” Truex said leading up to the race this past Saturday. “Coming off the season we had, we’re all itching to get on the racetrack and see what we need to do to have a season as good or better than we did last year.”
Truex is coming off of a top performance and vastly successful season. 2015 brought him eight top-five finishes, 14 top-10 finishes in the first 15 point races, a win at the June Pocono race, and a fourth place in the final point standings.
Had he not been wrecked on the final lap of the Unlimited last Saturday, Truex feels like he would have finished the race in the top five. However, due to the accident, No. 78 ended up placing 13th, 11 spots behind where he finished last season.
Leading up to the race, Truex said, “the Sprint Unlimited, that’s the one where you knock the dust off and get going.”
Or, in this case, crash and get that behind him before the point races begin.
So, if there’s a race to crash your car, the Unlimited –- as a no-points race –- is the race to do it at.
Truex mentioned that the Unlimited, “gives you perspective on how the week is going to shape up. How strong you feel like you are in your car and the things you need to work on for the upcoming week.”
From here on, the team expects nothing but another great and successful season. FRR made the switch this season for Truex to drive a Toyota instead of a Chevy, and they’re all very excited about this move. Not only did the team switch car manufacturers, but they’ll be teaming with a new technical alliance, Joe Gibbs. And who wouldn’t be excited to be teaming up with Toyota and Gibbs? After all the championship car of 2015 was a Toyota, teamed with none other than Joe Gibbs Racing.
With the Daytona 500 now only three days away, Truex is ready for this race. He wrote, “this is our Super Bowl.” And he wants nothing else but to bring home the Harley J. Earl Trophy (the Daytona 500’s champion trophy) to the Mile High City, only weeks after the Lombardi Trophy was brought here.
Before the Daytona 500m, however, Truex will have to put rubber to the road once more in the 150-mile qualifying race on Thursday, Feb. 18. This race will determine the starting positions for the 500, and although Truex wants a good starting position, he also doesn’t want to wreck his, “primary car.”
He wrote that he still wants to race competitively, “so there will be some risk-reward strategy.”
Truex will be driving the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops Toyota in this Sunday’s race.
“It’s always a special feeling to be at Daytona International Speedway opener and I am sure it will be even more special this year with the major improvements made to the facility.”