Martin Truex Jr. Finds '0.09 MPH Screws Up Your Whole Chance' in NASCAR Cup Playoffs

• Daniel Suarez was the last driver to make the 12-driver cut into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12—and he did so by scant 11 points.

• Pit road speeding penalties contributed to Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs getting cut.

• Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton missed the cut on nights they were simply non-factors.

Daniel Suarez recorded the worst Bristol Motor Speedway performance of his young NASCAR Cup career in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race, but pit road speeding penalties against two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers helped provide Suarez with the narrow advantage he needed to advance to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup playoffs.

Suarez had never finished worse than 26th in a dozen Bristol Cup races, but Saturday night he found himself mired in the back of the field. He never ran better than 30th and he finished 31st, four laps down to winner Kyle Larson. However, a second-place finish in the playoffs opening race at Atlanta and a 13th at Watkins Glen gave him a 36-point advantage entering the Bristol cutoff race.

In a round many drivers considered a wildcard, Suarez’s finishes in the first two events proved to be the margin he needed to advance.

“We definitely used every single point out of that cushion. It was a struggle,” said Suarez, who made the cut by 11 points. “Since yesterday (Friday) when we unloaded the car for first practice, we just didn’t have the speed. As you know, with a short amount of practice, qualifying, and going to the race, if you don’t have speed out of the trailer, it’s very, very difficult to bring it back to speed.”

JGR teammates Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. posed the biggest threat to eliminate Suarez from the playoffs, but both drivers’ efforts were hampered by pit road speeding penalties.

Gibbs incurred a pit road speeding penalty on lap 130 of the 500-lap race, while Truex received the same infraction on lap 333 during the fifth and final caution period. Truex, who had run in the top five throughout the race, restarted in 26th and could never recover. He eventually finished 24th in the race dominated by Larson, who led four times for 462 laps.

“They said we were going to have to run second or third there to have a chance,” said Truex, who missed the cut by 21 points. “We had a really strong car tonight, and we got a lot of Stage points. We did what we needed there. Just hate I screwed it up.

“It’s really tough when it’s 0.09 miles per hour that screws up your whole chance at a good season. I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t know I was even that close. I felt like I did the same thing as every other stop. It’s so tricky when you’re going from that curved section to get your lights.

“You never like to let anybody down, no matter what the situation. I hate that I did that tonight.”

Gibbs produced a 15th-place finish in the race that ended with only the top 10 on the lead lap. He entered the Bristol race tied with Chase Briscoe at six points above the cutline, but when the checkered flag waved Gibbs was out of the playoffs by 11 points.

“Just unfortunate,” Gibbs said. “The speeding penalty is on me. We run under the lights so close, and I just got a little bit too much, I guess.”

Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton both experienced dismal nights. Keselowski finished 26th, three laps down, while Burton took 35th, 78 laps off the pace.

“We didn’t show up in this round, I guess is probably just the easiest way to put it,” said Keselowski, who missed the cut by 37 points. “We didn’t get any results and it’s a results business.

“It was just a long night. We ran the best we could, we just didn’t have any pace. We lost a lap early and that’s kind of what we had. There was no attrition to the race and tires didn’t fall off and we didn’t have the pace.”

Burton had to go to the garage shortly after lap 230 with power steering issues in his Wood Brothers Ford. Repairs were made and he returned to the race, but he was never in contention.

“I knew it was starting to slowly go and they normally don’t get better when they’re starting to get worse,” said Burton, who missed the cut by 54 points. “I just didn’t say anything on my radio because I didn’t want it to be true. It just got to where I couldn’t make corrections, and my arms were just so tired that I couldn’t do anymore. Even when we got back out there, I was just letting guys go when they would get somewhat close to me.”

The Round of 12 kicks off next weekend at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. Talladega and the Charlotte Roval are the other tracks in the playoffs second round. In addition to Larson and Suarez, the other drivers advancing in the playoffs are Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe.