Unlucky finishes for Truex, will his luck change?

Truex Jr. at Texas. Credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs

Martin Truex Junior has started his fifth season in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series this year and is working with veteran crew chief Pat Tryson. So far this year, he’s finished in the top 10 once, but in his career he’s finished in the top ten 45 times, in the top five 14 times and has one career win.

Recently, Truex Jr.’s luck on the track has changed, with one of the scariest crashes also collecting Kasey Kahne in Martinsville due to his throttle getting stuck wide open. He and Kahne walked away without injuries.

In Texas, Truex was once again involved in a scary crash with Mark Martin and both walked away uninjured. He finished 35th and is now 21st in points.

Truex told reporters Saturday night, “It's just an unfortunate deal for this NAPA Toyota. We were struggling a little bit tonight. We were running our butts off and were sitting there running 16th and had to make a quick pit stop under green and lost a lap. We tried to take two (tires) to overcome it, but once you make one mistake, it just snowballs -- that's what happened to us. It's unfortunate. It stinks to have this happen two weeks in a row. We were going to battle to a decent finish tonight, we sure didn't need to be wrecked. The 2 (Brad Keselowski) check up in front of me, I checked up and got hit from behind. It's just an unfortunate racing situation. You make mistakes, and you get back there and you get desperate. You take two tires and things like that. You get yourself in trouble."

I had the chance to speak to Truex on a media teleconference two weeks ago and I asked if he would be racing in a Nationwide race and if that did help him in Sprint Cup racing. He answered:

“I don't have any Nationwide races planned as of right now. Things could change obviously if different partners come into MWR, they may want to do Nationwide things. We'll have to see what happens. I enjoy running those races. I ran a few of those last year and had a good time.
I think this year with the cars being more similar, I think it would be a bonus, I think it would help a little bit. There's still a lot of big differences between the cars as far as setups with us being on bump-stops, Nationwide not being allowed to run them, and Nationwide not being able to run rear sway bars. Those are the two things that differentiate the two, along with the obvious aero differences. Being that the cars are somewhat similar and run on the same tires, it would benefit running on Saturday. Most of the time it's about going out there and running races, and I enjoy doing that."

Truex was discovered in 2004 by Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave him a chance to race for Chance 2. He won two consecutive Nationwide championships in 2005 and 2006. The question remains, will his luck change this weekend in Talladega and will he be able to make up points this season to contend for the 2011 Championship Cup?