Truex holds his nerve in Sonoma win

As the Nascar season continues to gather pace, we enter a crucial period of the season. Races won and points collected this month in dry driving conditions could prove the difference between winning and losing the Nascar Cup series. Recent Toyota/Save Mart 350 winner Martin Truex is one man who confidently enters the next race. 

On Sunday, the talented Toyota Camry driver scored for Joe Gibbs Racing at Sonoma Raceway. Seeing the 42-year-old from New Jersey add another crucial win was no surprise, but he didn’t have things throughout the contest. Truex is a mentally tough pilot, and that showed with his performance when leading home Kyle Busch. 

As the race entered the closing stages, traders working on the betting odds for major Nascar apps seemed assured Truex would hold onto the lead after battling to the front of the pack. We’ve seen it many times from Martin, and that forged-in-fire experience was telling when push came to shove.

Hard work paid off

When Truex entered Sunday’s critical race from eighth on the grid, both team and driver knew winning was a big ask. He had come from further behind to succeed in the past, but this was no ordinary race. The Toyota/Save Mart 350 draws a crowd, and if there’s one thing Truex knows how to do, it’s gives the fans what they want to see. 

He’s a natural entertainer, and supporters knew they must be patient if their man was to pull Victory from the jaws of defeat. Martin is a driver that’ll give you only a few easy rides when watching Nascar. If you’re supporting him, be prepared to be put through the wringer with an avalanche of emotions.

His performance at Sonoma Raceway typified what the winner is all about, and that’s entertainment. He endured a poor visit to this track last year, but 12 months can make a massive difference in Nascar, and that was the case with Truex. He helped turn a negative into a positive, swapping a woeful 26th-place finish with the gold medal. 

What’s more, fans believe the Nascar Cup Series leader has more in his locker. According to that passionate support, he will turn the screw and continue to rack up wins in the coming weeks. Victory at the weekend moved his score to two race wins from a season that’s already 16 races old. 

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Work still to be done

Despite Martin’s dominance at this stage, he’s far from home and hosed. This ambitious contender racing in car number 19 is 13 points ahead of nearest rival William Byron, with Ryan Blaney completing the top three. However, he has 24 points to find to match the frontrunner and must deliver some of the magic we know he has in his locker to stay in the championship.

We can see why he rules the roost by looking at Truex’s numbers for the season. From the 16 previous outings, he has won two, had five top-five places, has finished in the top 10 eight times, and failed to finish only once. The number two ranked driver trails Byron in the number of laps lead column, but Martin has won the most important lap of the race; the final push for the finish.

When predicting the next race from the Nasar Cup Series, you shouldn’t be hindered by a slow start when supporting Sunday’s winner. He’s an aggressive driver who doesn’t shy away from the big moments; that bravery shows in his results. He led an impressive 51 of 110 laps, providing impossible to shift when he got his nose ahead.

Nashville up next

The next Nascar Cup Series schedule stop is the eagerly-awaited Ally 400 from the Nashville Super Speedway in Tennessee. Truex and his fellow title-chasers face 300 laps and just short of 400 miles on Sunday, 25th June, in a race you can follow on TV and live streaming apps.

Chase Elliott was best in this race last year and came eager to defend his title and guitar. Strangely, the winner of this race gets a custom guitar rather than a trophy as a celebration of The Music City. Will Truex bag a third title and add further weight to his challenge?