Truex Jr. reacts to NASCAR HEARTBREAK after playoff hopes crushed

NASCAR star Martin Truex Jr. has reacted after suffering playoff heartbreak at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.

The #19 Toyota driver had begun the night up against it at the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, below the round of 12 cut line, but was doing well before things went drastically wrong under the lights.

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With 16 stage points in the bag, Truex Jr was running second in the order and in with a great chance of progressing. However, when coming in for one of his pit stops, the Joe Gibbs Racing star was caught speeding by just 0.09 mph.

As a result, Truex Jr was given a speeding penalty and sent to the back of the order, ultimately finishing the race in 24th. As a result of that finish, Truex Jr. was eliminated from the playoffs ahead of the race in Kansas City this weekend.

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Martin Truex Jr. reacts to playoff failure

Speaking in the pit lane post-race, Truex Jr's frustration could clearly be felt.

"It's really tough when it's 0.09 miles per hour that screws up your whole chance at a good season up," Truex Jr explained in pit road.

"I don't know how that happened. I didn't know I was even that close, honestly. I felt like I did the same thing as every other stop. Sometimes you're just a foot -- maybe I was a foot to the left.

"It's so tricky when you're going from that curved section to the straight to get your lights."

Truex Jr was keen to ensure that he shouldered the responsibility for the matter, however.

And then there were 12. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/w3k4bibZGo

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 22, 2024

"It's on me, obviously. It's my mistake," he added.

"They said we were going to have to run second or third there to have a chance, and I don't know if we could have done it, but it would have been nice to see.

"Just really sad for my guys. They work so hard. 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.

"I wish we could have at least seen if we could have done it. It would have been fun to have a fighting chance. From here we'll just go on and try to race hard and get back to Victory Lane before it's all said and done."

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