Martin Truex Jr.'s win at Charlotte Motor Speedway one for the ages
It's taken me a couple days to really step back and fully come to terms with what we witnessed Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. What Martin Truex Jr. did Sunday night was one for the record books but more importantly it was one for the ages. Every now and then we as race fans are lucky enough to witness history and what Martin and his No. 78 team did was not only make NASCAR history, but they took it to another level.
Now we've seen dominating performances over the decades in NASCAR history, so it wasn't like this was something brand new to the sport. My point is while I have seen this happen before, I've honestly never seen something at this level happen before in a race of this magnitude.
I saw Cale Yarborough lead all 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway back in the '70's. I led 419 laps of 420 at Nashville. I saw Jeff Burton lead every lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. So I've seen and been part of dominating performances, but I have never, ever seen such an overall dismantling and true annihilation of the competition like I did Sunday night by Martin.
That's not to take away from any other driver that has gone to a NASCAR Sprint Cup race and thoroughly beaten the field into submission, but I am saying I've never, ever seen it done the way we saw it from the No. 78. Every once in a while we are lucky enough to see a performance by a driver and a team that stands so far head and shoulders above anything we've ever seen, that it leaves us speechless. That's the magnitude of what we witnessed during the Coca Cola 600.
Think about this a second. Up until Sunday night Martin only had three wins. So it's not like we see him winning every other week and it's just expected of him. Last year and especially this year what we've seen out of Martin and somewhat come to expect is him and that team to be running up front, leading a lot of laps but unfortunately finding ways to let victory slip through their fingers.
It's well documented that the No. 78 team left Chevrolet and a strong alliance with Richard Childress Racing at the end of 2015. The change in that team with that alliance from 2014 to 2015 is like comparing an apple to an orange. It still wasn't good enough for car owner Barney Visser, Martin and crew chief Cole Pearn. They knew they had all the components and were a good team, but they wanted to take it to the next level to become a great team. So in 2016 they joined the Toyota family and entered into an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. You know the old cliche about "timing is everything?" Well the No. 78 couldn't have timed things any better.
Up until Sunday evening, those Joe Gibbs Toyota's had won seven of our first twelve races. All four of their drivers have won at least one race this season and there isn't a track we don't go to that any of the four can't win at. They are the organization that everyone is focused on beating this year. Now after what we witnessed Sunday evening, Coach Gibbs is probably going to Martin and Cole Pearn asking what they are doing because his four Toyota's got thoroughly whipped.
The irony to me is in 2015 we saw the No. 78 outrun their alliance partner Richard Childress Racing almost each and every week. Now here we are for the first time in 2016 with history beginning to repeat itself. The one subtle difference from 2015 to today that I see is that when you talk to the Gibb's camp, they really don't look at or talk like the No. 78 is a partner. They look at the No. 78 as like a fifth JGR Toyota. This year the No. 78 has sponsors and resources that they could only dream about. The thing I love is they are taking the maximum advantage of it.
Records have been set and broken in NASCAR as long as it has existed. What we saw Sunday night was again taking it to another level. Remember, the Coca Cola 600 is our longest race we run all year. It's 600 grueling miles which equates to 400 grueling laps around that mile and a half track. Martin lead 392 of 400 laps. That equates to him leading 588 miles which is the most ever in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Martin led 98% of the laps which is the most dominating performance in NASCAR in the last 714 races.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like we didn't know the No. 78 was bad fast. They were fast from the minute they unloaded off the truck. They won the pole. They were the fastest in the last practice session. So everyone knew they were going to be a major contender Sunday night but no one and I mean no one expected the complete domination that unfolded.
So Sunday was Martin's fourth career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. He's also only the eighth driver to win this season in thirteen events. It was his first-ever win from the pole. It was his first win in thirty-four races. Anyone care to guess where his last win came from? It was one year ago in June at Pocono which, oh by the way, is where we are headed this weekend. In addition to all this, Martin has now punched his ticket into the 2016 NASCAR Chase. The numbers just go on and on. That's what separates this win in my book from anything we've ever seen in NASCAR.
In my mind it is one of the, if not the most amazing performances our sport has ever seen by a team. Yes, Martin is out there in the car by himself, but if he didn't have Cole Pearn up on that pit box making the right calls, the guys and gals back at the shop building these fast Toyota's and the pit crew servicing the car during the race, then none of this would have happened. It's the sum of all the parts and it all came together in record-setting fashion Sunday night.
This is one of those memorable nights that everyone in the garage area will always talk about. The cherry on top of this amazing night easily was Martin's girlfriend Sherry Pollex being there in Victory Circle with him. We all know the off-track issues that Sherry has been battling with cancer. He and Sherry had just hosted their seventh annual Catwalk for a Cause. Sherry had just ended a brutal 17 months of chemotherapy and this year's event was the first time she walked the runway without her wig.
There she was Sunday night in tears in Victory Circle. It was so touching to see the two of them be able to share this moment in time and history together. Sherry summed it up better than anyone when she said "With all those disappointments we've had, God was setting us up for a night like tonight." That brought tears to my eyes and speaks volumes.
