Motivated Truex focused on strong run at Indy
By SceneDaily Staff
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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Motivation will not be lacking for Martin Truex Jr. in Sunday’s Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
On Monday, The National Stock Car Racing Commission denied the appeal of Truex’s No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Inc. team over penalties handed down during the Coke Zero 400 race weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
That means crew chief Kevin Manion and car chief Gary Putnam, who had been allowed to work until the appeal was heard, will serve the first week of six-week suspensions at Indianapolis.
Manion was also fined $100,000 and the team was penalized 150 driver and owner points for the violation in which their car did not fit NASCAR’s roof templates during inspection at Daytona on July 3.
Mike Greci will take over as crew chief for Manion. Greci and Truex have a long history together back to Truex's family-owned team that he drove for when he started his NASCAR career in the then-Busch North Series.
“We’d love to win this one for Bono and Gary,” Truex said. “We’ll accept the penalty and move on, but we definitely feel like we’ve got something to prove. I can just tell that this whole deal has lit a fire under everybody and we’re really anxious to prove that we can win and make a run at the Chase.”
With seven races left before the championship-determining field is set, Truex is 17th in Sprint Cup Series points, 233 points out of the 12th and final Chase spot.
Going to victory lane at Indianapolis in the 15th running of the race now known as the Allstate 400 would be a welcome turn of events for Truex after the losses suffered by the penalties.
“If you’ve ever driven a race car, you’ve dreamed of winning at Indy,” Truex said. “The track is legendary and so are the drivers who have won there. I love watching the old black and white films of the races there. To think that the NASCAR guys are racing at The Brickyard still blows my mind.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Martin Truex Jr.
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