Neither Martin Truex Jr. nor Kyle Busch have reason to fret entering Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series Round 1 elimination race at Dover International Speedway. A peace of mind each earned by winning the first two playoff races at Chicagoland Speedway (Truex) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Busch), which automatically transfers them to the next bracket.
NASCAR at Dover preview: Championship co-favorites Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch continue to set the pace
Amidst a time when nerves can be frayed and any mistake carries potentially negative championship ramifications, Truex and Busch get a welcome one-week reprieve. Regardless of what occurs in the Apache Warrior 400 (2:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN), both know they’ll be among the 12 title-eligible drivers moving on to the second round.
But make no mistake, this isn’t some kind of throwaway weekend.
As opposed to years past when stage wins and accompanying bonus points weren’t available, Truex and Busch don’t lack for incentive to race hard on Sunday with an overall win or any stage win will give them additional points to add their respective tallies in the next round. And those points are a boon in aiding their march to the four-driver championship finale Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
It’s not surprising Truex and Busch are not letting up this weekend. In qualifying on Friday, Busch was quickest in the first two rounds before Truex posted the fastest speed during the decisive third session. It was his second pole of the season and snapped Busch’s two-race pole streak. And both have been consistently fast over long runs in practice, giving credence that they’re the co-favorites to win Sunday.
Because of the bonus points they’ve each accrued, Truex and Busch have built up a cushion where one bad finish won’t likely lead to an early playoff knockout. A safety net to guard against what happened to Truex last postseason, where he won two of three races to start the playoffs and entered the second round seemingly an unstoppable force, only to have three bad races in row lead to his unexpected and unceremonious elimination.
Truex is in the midst of a career-year where he’s won a series-best five times and is ranked first in stage wins, laps led and top-10 finishes. The Furniture Row Racing driver advanced to the title round in 2015 but finished last among the four title participants with Busch winning his first-ever Cup championship.
“I’m very thankful and I’m definitely enjoying it. I’m trying to enjoy every single week one at a time,” Truex said. “At the same time, there’s that chance at a championship out there, so you can’t lose focus and say, ‘Well, this is going great. We’re just going to show up to the track and everything is going to be fine.’
“So, just try to take advantage of the opportunities right now. The more you win, the more success you have, the more you want it.”
The path to winning -- both Sunday and the championship -- will entail beating Busch, who’s been every bit Truex’s equal since mid-summer.
Busch has won two of the past five races and in the playoff opener had a dominant car leading 85 of the first 87 laps, but he was slowed by his crew committing two miscues on pit road. Despite a speedy Toyota, he could never recoup the lost track position and finished 15th. Truex would win going away by a seven-second margin over runner-up Chase Elliott.
On the year, Busch trails only Truex in laps led, stage wins and top-10s. His immediate focus is capturing the trophy Sunday, a race where Truex is the defending winner.
“We know who the stage point king is this year, so we’ve got to out-race (Truex) for those [points],” Busch said. “Dover tends to bite you in the least susceptible moment, so we’ll just keep fighting it out and race hard.”
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