MOORESVILLE, N.C. – As he and his team prepare for Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. refuses to let penalties handed down this week by NASCAR be used as an excuse if his team doesn’t make the 2008 Chase.
“It’s NASCAR’s game,” said Truex, whose team was penalized on Tuesday because their No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet did not fit NASCAR’s templates during inspection before practice last week at Daytona International Speedway. “They set the rules and it’s up to us to abide by them.”
The team was docked 150 owner and driver points, crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion was fined $100,000 and Manion and car chief Gary Putnam have been suspended for the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup events.
“NASCAR has said from Day one that they were going to be strict about this car not fitting the templates,” continued the Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver. “We’ll just deal with the penalties and move forward. I hate that we’re going to lose Kevin and Gary. Obviously, they are important to the team and it’ll be weird not having them at the track.”
“We brought a new car to Daytona and it fit all of the templates at our shop. It doesn’t appear to have been anything intentional on our part but it was still our responsibility. We’ll deal with it and move on.”
“We’ve dug ourselves a hole but we’re not giving up. This team seems to respond the best when its back is against the wall.”
Martin Truex’s Sprint Cup results at Chicagoland Speedway:
2 starts, 481 of 537 laps completed (89.6%), 12 laps led
Win: 0 (0.0%)
Top 5: 0 (0.0%)
Top 10: 0 (0.0%)
Average start: 15.5
Average finish: 27.5
DNF: 1
Total Winnings: $221,128
Car Facts: #43, finished 17th at Michigan in June
Race Facts: 267 laps/400.5 miles
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