Toyota is now 4-for-4 in winning races in NASCAR’s playoff round, after Martin Truex Jr. won Sunday afternoon’s latest race at a humid Charlotte Motor Speedway. With two playoff wins, Truex now has an automatic berth into the next round of NASCAR’s playoff format.
“Just a total team effort,” Truex said. “Every single guy, every guy on this team just did a perfect job today and I can’t be more proud of them and at this time of the year is just when you want it to happen. You dream about days like today. I don’t know if we had the best car, but we damn sure got it in victory lane.”
Kyle Busch had come into Charlotte on a two-race winning streak, but dealt with a damaged and banged-up race-car throughout the event. After completing the 500 miles, Busch required medical attention, with bags of ice put on his chest. He received oxygen in a nearby ambulance to treat a high carbon monoxide level.
Post-race, Truex fought back tears in talking about his break-through, yet difficult, season, as his partner Sherry Pollex, continues to battle ovarian cancer. She was not at Sunday’s race, with a chemotherapy session scheduled for Monday.
“It was everything. I couldn’t hold it in anymore,” Truex said. “I thought about Sherry. I thought about winning the first race of this round, I thought about a lot of things, and I just lost it for a minute. It shows just how much this stuff means to us. We put everything into this, everything we have.”