By Matt Courson, Staff Writer
SPARTA, Ky. — Martin Truex Jr. is looking to continue his success at Kentucky Speedway Saturday in the Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
Truex has managed to take home the trophy in NASCAR’s last two trips to “The Bluegrass State” in dominating fashion. The driver of the No. 19 Toyota has led over 325 laps in the last two races at Kentucky.
“Definitely a lot on our mind coming here just because of this year and what it’s been all about,” Truex told Kickin’ The Tires. “It’s so different. I think back to the last couple of years and we’ve really been able to kind of come in here with the same strategy, mindset, setup and look for the same things throughout the weekend. “
Truex says that the track isn’t as much the same this year as in years past. “Now with the new cars this year and PJ1 on the track, all those things, different tires, it’s quite a bit different,” said Truex.
“We didn’t have a great day of practice. Hopefully we’ll make some good changes for the race. It’s tough these days when you come with a new package you don’t get a lot of practice, so we were off quite a bit to start and playing a little bit of catch up right now.”
Since the introduction of stage racing in 2017, Martin Truex Jr. has managed to win Stage 1, Stage 2, and become the eventual race winner at Kentucky Speedway.
Truex says he feels good vibes heading back to the Kentucky Speedway after the recent success.
“It’s always nice to go to a track that you have confidence at and you feel good about, but then you show up and it’s always like – like [Friday] we showed up and it was like ah, man, this isn’t too good. You’re always reminded of how difficult this is, what we do, and certainly [Friday] was one of those days.”