By Matt Courson, Staff Writer
WATKINS GLN, N.Y. — Martin Truex Jr. finished in the runner-up spot for the second consecutive year at Watkins Glen International. The second-place effort in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 car marks his third runner-up spot in 2019.
“I tried to do all I could,” Truex said. “Chase (Elliott), he did an excellent job just not making mistakes. All I could do was get to within two car lengths or one-and-a-half at the closest in braking.”
All Truex could do was hope that Elliott would make a mistake that never ended up happening.
“Just trying to force a mistake, but he hit his marks and his car was really fast in the key areas there where it needed to be and leaving a few of the key corners.”
Martin Truex Jr. attributes part of his road course success to his crew chief and team for knowing what to bring to the road courses and what kind of adjustments to make.
“We enjoy the road courses. Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and all the guys really understand what I need here. Honestly, we weren’t as good as we needed to be yesterday and made some changes after practice.
“Definitely in the right direction, just wish we could have been just a tiny bit better. Really was all about restarts and track position. If I could have just got by him on that last one, we could have set sail I believe. We didn’t and he won and he did a good job. Overall, it was a good weekend for us.”
Truex Jr. has finished inside the top-5 the last three consecutive races, and will return to Michigan International Speedway next week where he finished third earlier this year.
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