Martin Truex Jr. was eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs’ Round of 12 after the Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. A pit road speeding penalty dashed his hopes for advancement.
Throughout the race, Truex consistently ranked within the top five and securing valuable stage points. However, disaster struck when a minor infraction—exceeding the pit road speed limit by just 0.09 miles per hour—sidelined his efforts.
The penalty relegated him to the back of the field, leading to a loss of position that he was unable to recover from on Bristol’s notoriously short and tight track.
Reflecting on the incident, Truex commented to the media after the race:
Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 20, 2024 in Bristol, Tennessee. Martin Truex Jr laments costly error at Bristol.
James Gilbert/Getty Images
“It’s really tough you know. Point zero nine miles per hour that you know kind of screws your whole chance at a good season up.
“So yeah. Just I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t know I was even that close. Honestly, I felt like I did the same thing as every other stop. But sometimes you’re just a foot maybe a foot to the left or it’s so tricky when you’re going from that curved section to the straight to get your lights. And it’s on me. Obviously, it’s my mistake.
“Yeah I mean they said we were gonna have to run second or third there to have a chance and I don’t know if we could have done it but it would have been nice to see.
“And just really sad for my guys they worked so hard. We had a really strong car tonight and we did, you know, we got a lot of stage points we did what we needed there. Just hate I screwed it up. I wish we could have at least seen if we could have done it. Would have been fun to have a fighting chance.
“From here we’ll just go on and try to race hard and hopefully go back to victory lane before it’s all said and done.
“You never like to let anybody down, you know, no matter what the situation. So, I hate that I did that tonight.”
NASCAR Cup Series: Bass Pro Shops Night Race Results
- Kyle Larson – Running
- Chase Elliott – Running
- Bubba Wallace – Running
- Denny Hamlin – Running
- Christopher Bell – Running
- Ryan Blaney – Running
- Ryan Preece – Running
- Chase Briscoe – Running
- Alex Bowman – Running
- Ross Chastain – Running
- Michael McDowell – Running
- Noah Gragson – Running
- Austin Cindric – Running
- Chris Buescher – Running
- Ty Gibbs – Running
- Zane Smith – Running
- William Byron – Running
- Carson Hocevar – Running
- Daniel Hemric – Running
- Tyler Reddick – Running
- Austin Dillon – Running
- Justin Haley – Running
- AJ Allmendinger – Running
- Martin Truex Jr. – Running
- Kyle Busch – Running
- Brad Keselowski – Running
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Running
- Joey Logano – Running
- Josh Berry – Running
- Erik Jones – Running
- Daniel Suárez – Running
- Todd Gilliland – Running
- John H. Nemechek – Running
- Josh Bilicki – Running
- Harrison Burton – Running
- Corey LaJoie – Accident
- Kaz Grala – Steering
