Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Martin Truex Jr. Chicagoland Preview


CORNELIUS, N.C. — NAPA AUTO PARTS wants to bring Martin Truex Jr. fans a little bit closer to the action Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway as well as the remaining 18 races in 2010 season —and you won’t even have to leave your couch. To honor the one-year anniversary of signing Truex to drive the No. 56, NAPA will make the Michael Waltrip Racing team’s in-car audio available free of charge to fans who register at www.nascar.com/napatruexscanner or www.NAPAonline.com As an added bonus, Truex has vowed to sing the popular “NAPA Know How” jingle during a pace lap if 1,000 fans sign up.

QUOTES

Martin Truex Jr. on NAPA’s in-race scanner offer: “I think it’s cool that NAPA is doing this for our fans because when they watch a race, they don’t always understand what is going on or the emotion that goes in it. If they listen to the in-car scanner of the NAPA Know How Crew, they’ll get a real sense of what we are doing and why it is happening. They’ll hear why we gained or lost a position during a pit stop. Why we took four tires versus two. They’ll hear the excitement when we do a fast stop. They’ll hear how mad I can get when things go bad. Now, they’ll get a sense of the passion of this team over the course of a race and now, the entire second half of our season.”

Truex on the one year anniversary of the NAPA announcement: “Time flies when you are having fun. Things have been really going well if we could just get rid of the bad luck. I am really happy with my decision to join Michael Waltrip Racing and am excited about the future. Just a few weeks ago, we were in the top 12 in points. To be in that position and contending for a Chase spot is pretty good with an entirely new team. We continue to get better all the time and this past weekend was the first time we have revisited a track. What a difference it made for us. We went out with a set up we knew was going to work and after 15 minutes of practice, I felt like we could park the car and prepare for the race. We have learned a lot and it’s great to see how far we have come as a group and to now understand what these MWR Toyotas need to go fast.”

Truex on racing at Chicagoland Speedway: “I really enjoy racing there. It’s been a good track for me over the years. It’s really unique because the front and back straightaways are curved. The track has also been weathered a bit so it has some bumps. It’s real wide and has multiple grooves. I like Chicago because you can race from the yellow line to the wall and go fast. It’s also a tough place to set up a car especially during long green flag runs because the track changes. It is not uncommon for you to have a good practice run, but when you go to race, your car won’t be that good any more. It makes for an interesting challenge for us to figure out that balance on set up and how it will change with the track. Some guys will run well with fresh tires and some will run better on older tires. You just have to be able to do both to have a chance on Saturday night.”

Notes

Watch Truex on this week’s edition of Showtime’s Inside NASCAR: http://tiny.cc/5v5tu

Saturday’s race is Truex’s 171st Sprint Cup Series race and fifth at Chicagoland. His best start is second (July 15, 2007) and best finish is ninth. (July 12, 2008). During his career, he has one top-10 and three top-20 finishes. His average start is 18th and his average finish is 20th. He has led 14 laps.

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