On a roll: Martin Truex Jr. continues to set high marks for Furniture Row Racing
Things keep getting better for Furniture Row Racing and Martin Truex Jr.
The pairing's great start to the 2015 season continued Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, where Truex brought the No. 78 Chevrolet home in the seventh spot.
The finish was Truex's fourth consecutive top-10 finish to start the 2015 season. In fact, just four races into the year, Truex and his No. 78 team are one top-10 finish away from matching last year's results.
In addition, the string of four top-10 finishes is a new high-water mark for Furniture Row Racing, which is enjoying 10th season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Despite a fast car, the seventh-place finish was not easy to come by. He and crew chief Cole Pearn had to work in the second half the event to overcome setbacks on pit road, while battling through heavy traffic throughout the pack.
Under the third caution of the day, Truex's car fell off the jack on a pit stop on Lap 69 and dropped him from fifth in the running order back to 23rd.
By Lap 110, Truex was knocking on the door of the top 10 and looking for more. On Lap 125, Truex restarted the race from the fourth spot and moved into second on Lap 158.
However, with just over 80 laps to go in the 312-lap event, Truex was sandwiched between Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson on pit road and fell back to 24th.
Yet in the closing laps of the race, Truex methodically worked his way back through the field and restarted the race with 17 laps to go in the ninth spot by staying out when other leaders hit pit road.
Gaining two spots in the closing laps, Truex added another solid run to his 2015 resume and moved to the second spot in the overall driver standings after four races.
"It was a hell of a rebound," said Truex. "A really good pit call by Cole (Pearn, crew chief) to stay out on the last pit stop. We were able to pass a couple of cars there at the end and get a top 10. I felt like we had a better car than that, but with the circumstances today, with 50 to go I felt there was no way we were going to finish top 20. To get a top 10 feels good."
