Dover International Speedway will always have a special place in Martin Truex Jr.’s heart.
The one-mile track was the site of Truex Jr.’s first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win in 2007. He’s since gone on to win another time at the “Monster Mile” as well as a series championship, but coming back to Dover every year means a great deal to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
“It’s a great place and such a unique race track,” said the New Jersey native. “One of my favorites to come to for sure. It’s called the Monster for a reason, it’s mean and it’s fast and it’s big. It’s kind of crazy. I really enjoy it and I’ve been coming here a long time.
“Ran the Busch North car here back in the day and things like that. My family owned a car here in the Busch Series so definitely a special place for me, not far from where I grew up and always look forward to coming back here and being on the East Coast.”
However there’s a new twist to Dover this time around thanks to the Cup Series rules package in play for 2019. High horsepower and added downforce have combined to raise speeds in both practice and qualifying. Truex Jr. believes it will have a major impact in Sunday’s Gander RV 400.
“There’s no question it’s going to be harder to get close to someone as fast as we’re going,” Truex Jr. explained. “There’s no way around that, that’s simple science. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see. It’s really fast and obviously you don’t want to hit anything. It’s a race car so there’s always danger involved I guess.”
Truex Jr. qualified 13th for Sunday’s race but admits he has no idea how the race will play out, making Saturday’s pair of practice sessions important.
“I can’t explain to you how fast it feels, it’s pretty hairy out there,” he said. “Pretty wild ride, a lot of fun, but you really have to attack and we went faster every time we hit the race track without really doing a whole lot to our car. Just trying to figure out where the limit is because it’s something we just haven’t done here before like this.”
