It had been a relatively quiet Chase for Martin Truex Jr. through three races. That changed when he got behind the wheel yesterday.

The driver for the Denver-based Furniture Row Racing Team took third place in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first race of the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

It was Truex’s best finish of the Chase thus far. Truex sits in third overall, as each driver’s points reset after each round.

The top-5 finish seemed to come as a bit of a surprise considering a sub-par practice session, tells Truex in his post-race presser here.

Two more races remain in the Contender Round. The second race of the round will take place at Kansas Speedway this Sunday. It’s a place where Truex has performed particularly well as of late—he has two top-5 finishes there so far this season.

The number of title-eligible drivers will be cut to eight following the Contender Round.

Checkout the updated standings here:


Calvin Jouard is an intern at Mile High Sports and a student at the University of Denver