“It's been a tough month-and-a-half” - Martin Truex Jr. addresses recent slump of results in NASCAR

Martin Truex Jr. recently touched on his slump of results in the last few races. Since his successive top 5 finishes in a row at Dover and Kansas in May, Truex Jr. hasn't finished inside the top 5, with his best result being a 9th place finish at New Hampshire.

Apart from this, Truex Jr. has three finishes outside the top 20 and a couple inside it.

Ahead of this Sunday's race at Pocono, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran was asked about his confidence heading into the upcoming race.

"For sure, it’s been a tough month-and-a-half, finish-wise. Speed-wise, aside from maybe last week and Iowa, we’ve been solid. Just need to capitalize on that and execute. It takes a lot of things to win races, lead laps, stay upfront and have fast cars, so hope we can put it all together this weekend. But I feel good about it. Yeah, just kind of been in a slump for a little while now," Truex Jr. said. [4:26]

When asked further to elaborate on the reason(s) behind his slump, Martin Truex Jr. claimed there have been multiple things and not one. He mentioned how in the last three races, the #19 was crashed at the end by another car which Truex Jr. deemed "frustrating."

"Dealt with a lot of things like rain and crazy things like that. Yeah, hopefully this is a normal, straightforward weekend. We can have a good day today and execute tomorrow, be upfront tomorrow and be in good shape," he added. [5:17]

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Martin Truex Jr. predicts no two dates on the calendar for one racetrack in NASCAR's future

Speaking about Pocono Raceway, Martin Truex Jr. remarked that he enjoys coming to it, but found it amazing how the schedule has changed over the years. Up until the 2021 season, Pocono hosted two races on the calendar.

However, from 2022 onwards, the racetrack has been allotted one date on the calendar. When asked about this at the press-conference ahead of Pocono, Truex Jr. made a grim prediction.

"I feel like the future is probably one race everywhere and not so much two anymore. It's great that we still come here and it's a very unique track. A lot of fun," Truex said of Pocono. [1:05]

As for whether Pocono would be one of those racetracks where he makes his occasional NASCAR appearance after retirement, Truex Jr. refused to commit.

He claimed that there would be only be two or three tracks he'd even think of racing in the Cup Series after his retirement. Truex Jr. emphasized that he'd want to assess the opportunity instead of just going there and racing.

"If I’m going to go, I want to have a shot at winning. If that’s something we can put together, then we’ll do it. If not, then we’ll play with Xfinity or something," he added as per The Times Tribune.

Heading into the race this Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. would look to add to his win tally at the Tricky Triangle.

And considering this is going to be his final race at Pocono, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran would be hoping to make it three wins to his name on the racetrack.