NASCAR Cup Series

Martin Truex Jr.'s Chase hopes take huge hit after engine blows

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:19 p.m. ET

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Tom Jensen

Scratch one of the heavy favorites to win the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

In a shocking development, Hellman’s 500 pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. lost an engine in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after just 41 laps at Talladega Superspeedway, a critical failure that has knocked him out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Truex came into the race tied for the lead in most Sprint Cup victories this year with four, and led more laps than any other driver this year. He even won two of the first three Chase races, appearing to set himself up for a title run.

But early on at Talladega, Truex  reported first a vibration and then smoke in his Toyota. Soon after the engine in his Toyota let go, punching a big hole in the oil pan.

And that was that. Game, set match, for Truex’s title shot this year.

“Just developed a vibration and started to lose a little bit of power,” said Truex. “Originally I thought it could have been a tire because it was shaking worse and worse and worse until it was time to pit. I slowed down to hit pit road and felt the vibration still there and knew it was the engine.

It was a brutal blow for Truex, one of the championship favorites. Last year, the Mayetta, N.J., native made it all the way to the final round of the Chase, but now it looks like his title hopes are over.

“Definitely not the way we wanted today to go -- it’s a tough way to go out, but proud of the effort and proud of all the guys,” said Truex, who won more races this year than he had won in his entire career before 2016.

“The engines have been great all year and every once in a while you’ll have a failure and it’s unfortunate that it was with everything on the line,” said Truex. “I don’t know, it is what it is and it’s racing. It’s part of it and we’ll move on. We’re going to go try to win the last five races or whatever is left and have a good end to our season.”

Asked how hard it was to have his title hopes end like this, Truex added,  “It will be real hard when we win the next four races.”

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