By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
Despite fencing his car in the second Stage, Ryan Truex rebounded to score a top-10 finish in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was well inside the top-10 when the caution waved for a spin by Leland Honeyman Jr. with 11 laps to go in the second stage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Truex followed the entire field onto pit road. On the ensuing restart, the No. 20 The Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra went wide in Turns 3 and 4. With no grip, Truex pounded the outside wall and plummeted down the running order.
The Mayetta, NJ native fought his way up the running order throughout the remainder of the 300-mile race. Two late-race cautions gave Truex the opportunity to move back inside the top-10 on the notoriously difficult to pass Texas Motor Speedway track. In the final 11-lap scramble, the 32-year-old worked his way by both Jesse Love and Sammy Smith to take the checkered flag in seventh.
“Started off really good, I felt like we were a top-three car,” Truex said. “You just cannot pass – at all. As soon as the track moves up – the preferred lane moves up to the top – nobody could pass. You are just stuck in dirty air, so I just rode in fifth. I tried to pass somebody and ended up sixth in stage one. At the end of the race there, I just didn’t even try to pass him, because I knew if I did, I was just going to get freight trained.
“Our GR Supra was really good. I think we were probably an adjustment away from being able to win. I just got too high in (turns) three and four and got in the residual junk they have up there, and I just lost all of my grip and fenced it. Obviously, my fault, and I feel really bad about it because this car deserves to be winning races, not running seventh, but I’m glad we at least got lucky and had a good restart there at the end.”
The seventh-place finish was Truex’s second top-10 of the season in just his third start of 2024. It was also his 32nd career top-10 in Xfinity competition.
Next for Truex’s part-time schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing is the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. In three starts at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, he has a best finish of 11th in 2012.
The Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled for Saturday, April 20 at 4:00 p.m. ET on FOX. The race will also be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.