Truex Jr. Fights For 10th Place at Pocono

Martin Truex Jr., NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota finished 10th and is 20th in points

MARTIN TRUEX JR. SUMMARY: No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. finished 10th in Sunday’s Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver started 31st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 500-miler that served as the debut race for new crew chief Chad Johnston. Truex battled handling issues while racing in the top 20 during the first half of the race. The NAPA Toyota came to life at the halfway mark running with the leaders before securing the 10th-place finish. Truex and the NAPA KNOW HOW team return to action Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. 

TRUEX JR. NOTES:
- Started 31st and finished 10th
- Battled loose in and off the corners during the first half of therace
- Raced as high as seventh and as low as 33rd
- Shortly after halfway, the NAPA Toyota came to life and scored atop-10 finish

TRUEX QUOTE: “That was a hard fought 10th. Just proud of the guys on pit road and proud of Chad (Johnston, crew chief) --that was his first race on the box. He did a good job of keeping me calm. We were pretty far off to start. We weren’t very good all weekend really. We just stuck with it and kept plugging away and he did a good job calling the race and making the adjustments. We were still just lacking a little. It’s just missing a little bit with the NAPA Toyota. Good run for us. Just missing a little and I hope we can find it soon because we’ll have some fun if we do.”

RACE NOTES:
- Jeff Gordon won Sunday’srace at Pocono Raceway
- Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five
- Carl Edwards is the Sprint Cup Series points leader
- The race featured 18 lead changes among 10 drivers
- Four cautions slowed the race for 14 lapsThe race lasted about three hours and 26 minutes in front of
  an announced crowd of 90,000 fans

For more race results visit: www.nascar.com