Truex still looking for first win at Martinsville

Martin Truex is 6/1 to win at Martinsville.

The season’s most prolific winner, six-time race winner Martin Truex Jr. goes into Martinsville (Va.) Speedway still looking for his first career victory at the notoriously finicky half-miler.

He has five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 27 starts. And his recent work has been his best. He has finished eighth or better in seven of the last nine races – including the last four. He was runner-up to Kyle Busch in 2017 and went on to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup championship. He was third in the 2018 Playoff race and finished eighth this March.

Truex trails his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch by only four points in the championship standings heading into Martinsville.

“We know what we need to do,’’ Truex said. “Now it’s just a matter of going out and doing it. I know [crew chief] Cole [Pearn] and the guys have a good plan every week, so I’m confident we can do that. We have been fast, ran up front and led laps at all of these tracks in this round.

“All eight [playoff] guys would love to go into Martinsville this week and win the race to move on. That’s our goal, but we also feel good about the other tracks too.’’

And, he added, “We’ve got a great team. We just have to go out and execute.’’