Martin Truex Jr. comes in as 6-to-1 co-favorite to win at Sonoma

Martin Truex Jr. is 6-to-1 co-favorite to win at Sonoma Sunday

DENVER, Colo. (June 23, 2015) – The statistics and performances bear out that Martin Truex Jr. has been competitive at all shapes and sizes of racetracks during the first 15 races of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Truex’s successful start includes one win, five top-fives, 14 top-10s and a second-place ranking in driver points. With his third-place result at the recent race in Michigan, he became the first driver to register 14 top-10s in the first 15 races since Richard Petty accomplished that feat in 1969.

Truex and his single-car Furniture Row Racing team will face a new challenge when the Sprint Cup Series heads to Sonoma Raceway in Northern California for Sunday’s 110-lap, Toyota/Save Mart 350, the first road race of the season.

“I enjoy road-course racing,” said Truex, who will turn 35 on Monday (June 29). “When I started racing in go-karts it was on road courses and it’s always been a nice change of pace for us to compete at the Sonoma and Watkins Glen road courses.”

Looking at Truex’s Sprint Cup history, it backs up his liking for the road-course races. Two years ago he won the Sonoma road race, which was his previous Cup win before capturing the victory at Pocono Raceway on June 7.

In nine Cup starts on the 11-turn, 1.99-mile Sonoma circuit, Truex has finished on the lead lap in all but one race (2010 he crashed), and in nine starts at the Watkins Glen road course in central New York, he finished on the lead lap in every race.

“I like Sonoma Raceway, especially when I won there two years ago,” said Truex. “I like the track, it’s fun, but it also can get crazy there. It’s a place where you definitely need to be out front towards the end of the race. That’s what you work for all day — to put yourself in position strategy wise and fuel mileage wise.

“When those cautions at the end start coming out and if you’re not in the front two rows the chances are you’re going to get hit and knocked off the track. The chances go up with every row you move back from the first two. Last year we had an up and down day there (finished 15th). Hopefully we’ll have something a little smoother this year like I had a two years ago.”

When asked if he has any apprehension about taking his momentum to a road course, Truex said, “I think we learned a lot everywhere we went last year. That’s a big part of the reason why we have been so much more successful this year. Sonoma was a place we didn’t do that well last year and we’re looking forward to going back there and turning the tables.”

Truex Jr.’s Sonoma Raceway Record

Year	Start	Finish	Status/Laps	Laps Led
2006	39	15	Running,110/110	0	108,283
2007	18	24	Running,110/110	0	101,795
2008	25	16	Running,112/112	0	113,433
2009	6	25	Running,113/113	0	114,913
2010	10	42	Crash,66/110	1	70,930
2011	14	8	Running,110/110	0	104,325
2012	5	22	Running,112/112	15	111,844
2013	14	1	Running,110/110	51	309,250
2014	18	15	Running,100/110	0	123,643

Truex’s 2015 Sprint Cup Series Results 

No.	Date	Event	St	Fn	Laps	Led	Status	Money	Points	Standing
1	2/22	Daytona 500	10	8	203/203	1	Running	489,772	37	8
2	3/1	Atlanta	14	6	325/325	0	Running	150,615	38/75	5
3	3/8	Las Vegas	8	2	267/267	3	Running	268,950	43/118	4
4	3/15	Phoenix	15	7	312/312	0	Running	121,025	37/155	3
5	3/22	Fontana	12	8	209/209	5	Running	136,240	37/192	3
6	3/29	Martinsville	3	6	500/500	23	Running	118,665	39/231	3
7	4/11	Fort Worth	15	9	334/334	0	Running	163,380	35/266	3
8	4/19	Bristol	16	29	504/511	0	Running	120,120	15/281	3
9	4/26	Richmond	6	10	400/400	0	Running	114,710	34/315	3
10	5/3	Talladega	36	5	188/188	0	Running	169,600	39/354	2
11	5/9	Kansas	4	9	267/267	95	Running	122,060	37/391	2
12	5/24	Charlotte	9	5	600/00	131	Running	187,350	41/432	2
13	5/31	Dover	2	6	405/405	131	Running	148,815	40/472	2
14	6/7	Pocono	3	1	160/160	97	Running	201,810	48/520	2
15	6/14	Michigan	9	3	138/138	0	Running	137,580	41/561	2

Top 5s: 5  Top 10s: 14  Laps Led: 486 Avg. Start: 10.8  Avg. Finish: 7.6  Money: $2,650,692

- DMF Communications for Furniture Row Racing