Season Collapses are not uncommon in NASCAR, through the decades many drivers have fallen off at the end of a season and in 2023 we saw a big one with Martin Truex, Jr. Trues was one of the heavy favorites for the championship heading into the 2023 NASCAR Playoffs. What he did in them was a complete letdown. Today we look at the leadup and 9 races of the NASCAR Playoffs and see why he just could not get it done in 2023. Why did Martin Truex, Jr. collapse so badly?
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42 comments
Do you think Martin Truex, Jr. will recover in 2024?
He’s gonna win a race or two and retire still competitive
There’s no doubt in my mind 2024 is it for him
No
Negative
I wish but it’s probably gonna be a no for me dawg
No. 2024 might be his final year.
James Small and MTJ can’t be together next year
The pairing seems so toxic
Also Sherry passing away seemed to affect him massively
Joe already said no changes needed
THAT’s gonna go real well…
@John Haas that’s not gonna help
@John Haas Does Grandpa Joe want MTJ to do bad? Cuz it’s obvious that him and Small don’t have chemistry.
Joe Gibbs is out of touch with reality. That team is going to be a second tier team like RCR if he doesn’t get a grip and do some house cleaning. All four teams had issues with their pit crews this year.
The passing of Sherry Pollex really messed up his ability to focus. You could tell in his Martinsville interview that he couldn’t wait for the year to be over. James Small making terrible strategy calls doesn’t help either. You know you messed up badly if Truex of all people is constantly screaming on the radio. The overall morale of the team is the lowest it’s ever been.
You Are Absolutely Right.
Wasn’t it a mental breakdown? I remember his radio at Homestead just him breaking down saying “I can’t #%@@$% do this anymore”. It was Pollex’ death, James Small being James Small, and just plain bad luck
This is a very good point. Truex was quite happy when his team was performing. With Sherrys passing he had to be torn up inside. You can hear how frustrated he is during playoff radio chatter. Hopefully the off season gives him a chance to heal and return to form next year.
Wait didnt he leave her?
I mean truex is always screaming on the radio
His girlfriend of 18 years died. And even though they broke up earlier this year, you don’t get over a long term relationship overnight. His head wasn’t in racing anymore.
The fact he still made it to the Round of 8 is insane
He managed to prove that the regular season still does matter with his terrible playoff performance.
It seems like a combination of a more competitive field, an inconsistent stretch of races and a huge off-track distraction in the form of Sherry dying might’ve affected him.
Truex is past his prime and just hasn’t been the same driver as when Cole Pearn was on the box. It happens to all of the best, I think he might have another 2-3 competitive seasons in him at the very most. I’d still say this has been a great season for him, even if he didn’t make the final 4, this is a much needed improvement over 2022. Maybe we see him come back even better next year? I hope they give him someone better on the box than James Small, he has his moments but overall I think that’s what’s holding Truex back the most.
He had a lot of fight starting from the Clash. He ran down youngsters in an outdated car and won, keeping up the pace with a couple strong finishes and Monday wins. There were a couple of screwy strategies from James Small, but it looked like they worked things out by the time CRINGE Network stopped broadcasting and NBC took over. Once Pollex died, that’s when it hit him. HARD. Even though we didn’t see it, it was bad all around for the 19. It looked like he was getting back to rhythm at Vegas, but Homestead is where he broke down. Age has nothing to do with this collapse this time
@S.KullRandom Age is always a factor of it, but I will not say that what you have said is wrong. There’s so many things here that could’ve went different that may have been enough to get him into the final 4. From the driver perspective, he was focused until he was not, and for good reason. As for the team, it seems like as soon as he lost focus, they gave up. He had a good run at Vegas but his team did absolutely nothing for him at Homestead. Same for Bristol, he had a good run but the team couldn’t help him out. The driver can only do so much with what he has, and that’s where my point in age comes in, older drivers tend to just not have that “clutch” ability like younger drivers do, it’s just a part of their prime years. Younger guys tend to be able to get more out of a bad situation than some older ones, it’s just how it is. Every race of the playoffs he’s had speed to be in or around the top 10, it just seems like he’s had either poor luck or an issue with the team in this years playoffs. I can’t entirely blame him when he is in spots to have good finishes and the crew chief makes bad calls every other time he’s on the box, but his age doesn’t help him either in being able to overcome the hardships (he is 43 years old after all).
He’s the best current cup driver, just a bad pit crew, bad crew chief, and not as pushed as hamlin from jgr..
@SMungerNot true. the first round, he was running where he was racing except at Kansas. the second round, worse. he was nowhere in dega and the roval. you could make a case for Texas but that’s it.
@Irene Asare the roval he started towards the front and then as the race progressed fell back, but was up and in around the top 10 to start with. Talladega he was top 15 until the last lap wreck. Kansas, he flat out lost it and wrecked on lap 3. Homestead, engine failure. Texas, he had some top 10 speed but the pit crew could not execute a good stop all race. Bristol, top 15 speed but with around 150 to go be got loose hit the wall and got stuck a lap down under the caution and didn’t recover. At Darlington, Truex led 145 laps, won stage 1, then crashed 2 times before the end of the race. Vegas he barely got a top 10 but was having pit crew issues throughout the day, could’ve had a top 5 there. Martinsville was what did him in, when he sped down pit road in stage 2 and cost himself a good run. So aside from the Roval and maybe Talladega, he’s had the speed everywhere but hasn’t been able to close the deal, whether on him or on the team. How is what I said not true?
Context matters more than everything. MTJ and team only put up a half-season together because MTJ’s girlfriend of 18 years died halfway through the season. He’s clearly distracted; you don’t magically lose the ability to race overnight.
Losing Sherry really had an affect on his season, you gotta feel bad for him. Fan or not
What if Truex had more confidence heading into the playoffs?
What if he hadn’t blown a tire on lap 4 at Kansas?
What if his Top 10 at Vegas wasn’t his only top 10 in the final 10 races?
What if, in 2023, Martin Truex Jr captured his missing ring?
Sherry dying might have affected him more than we thought
His breakdown at Homestead confirmed it
To add to the darlington race, the team later said when truex brushed the wall in qualifying he bent something in the car and the team never caught it until after the race was over. The first round was just awful
It was Pollex’ death that caused him to collapse hard. My guess, he tried his best to push forward, but it took a heavy toll on him and his team, to the point of his mental breakdown at Homestead. James Small just made it worse
He has been through quite a lot , not sure what people expect from him
7:20 Not a weaker field at the top, quite the contrary – a stronger field, that stopped anyone running away with it during the regular season
I think the passing of Sherry really affected him. His heart wasn’t in it this year and that really led to him underperforming I think. Not to mention terrible calls by James Small atop the pit box and it was a bad year. Yeah he got 3 wins this year but bad luck really held the #19 team back. Hopefully they have a rebound next year.
I had no idea how I missed the fact that sherry passed away. Rip to her my condolences to the family. I’m sure thus had alot to do with MTJs performance. I’m not a Truex fan but you gotta have empathy for the entire situation.
This is easily the biggest playoff collapse I can recall going back to the implementation of the chase.
I wouldn’t say that Harvick 2020 season was a collapse. What really screwed it up was Joey Logano winning at Kansas because Logano was one of the bottom seeds in the round of 8 and that took away like half of the point cushion that Harvick had when that round started. And after that they just couldn’t perform, and when it came to Martinsville, he was on the chopping block.
As a truex fan, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get that 2nd championship this season. However, I look at the positives, in 2022 he has ZERO wins and was contemplating retirement. Here comes 2023 where he starts the season with a win at the Clash at the Colosseum, following that with 3 regular season wins! But I also can’t deny how horrible this chase for the cup was, I was at Kansas when he wrecked on the 3rd or 4th lap, if it wasn’t for me getting his autograph earlier in the day, it would’ve totally ruined that Sunday for me.