NASCAR Cup Series

Ryan Truex savors fourth-place finish at Daytona

Published Feb. 21, 2014 10:15 p.m. ET

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On Thursday night, Ryan Truex missed qualifying for his first Daytona 500. One night later, he was nearly celebrating in Daytona's victory lane.

"I needed this. It feels good," Truex said after his fourth-place finish in Friday's Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

In the closing laps, Truex positioned his No. 32 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet on the outside lane to battle Kyle Busch and Timothy Peters for the win.

"We were just running there in the outside and I was trying to side-draft them and Timothy jumped up in front of me," Truex said. "I started pushing him and I hit him a few times and we just started hauling the mail. I said, 'Alright, I'm going to keep doing this.' I pushed him to the front and he jumped right down, which he should do -- he's trying to win."

Once Peters made the move to lead the bottom lane, Truex's run on the outside essentially stalled, despite a strong push from TSM teammate Ron Hornaday Jr.

"Ron got to my back bumper and just bounced on me the whole time," he said. "I side-drafted Kyle as hard as I could. I was trying to separate him and Timothy, so Timothy would back up and we'd get a run on them."

That never happened, however. Coming to the checkered flag, Busch made a move to the outside to score his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at The World Center of Racing.

Despite coming home fourth, Truex climbed from his car beaming.

"I needed this run," he said. "It feels really good after missing the Cup race to come out here and get in a really good truck. I really wanted to win it after last year, after getting up there and blowing the tire. This feels really good. I know it's a fourth-place, but it feels like a win.

"I feel like last night was probably the worst night of my racing career. It's just crazy the ups and downs in this sport, but I'm fortunate to be where I'm at, though. I'm fortunate to be with a Cup team and have the chance to experience everything and run with these guys."