Martin Truex Jr. hoping for a positive race as playoff elimination threat looms large: “Bristol hasn’t been my favorite place

Martin Truex Jr. entered the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as the No.1 seed and only two weeks later is on the verge of being eliminated in the first round.

In the first two races of the playoffs, a loose wheel at Darlington and a punctured tire at Kansas put Truex Jr. seven points below the cut-off mark. After a disastrous start to the Round of 16, the regular season champion heads to Bristol Motor Speedway hoping for a big turnaround of fortunes.

While Martin Truex Jr. needs a perfect outing at Bristol, his previous results at the half-mile concrete oval aren't impressive. In the 32 starts that the #19 Toyota driver has made on the track, he has only two top-fives and four top-10s. Truex Jr. is also wary of the situation as he hopes for a strong run at Bristol, saying:

“The points situation is the same as every other race,” Truex was quoted by Speedway Digest. “This weekend, we just need to qualify the best we can, run up front and hope for good things to happen, but we really just have to control what we can control.”

He added:

“Bristol hasn’t been my favorite place, but we’ve had some good runs there, too. I think we’ve been competitive there over the years… Hoping we can have a strong run there and get to the next round of the playoffs. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Heading into the playoffs this season, the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver was the favorite pick to clinch the title. However, the unfortunate outings over the last two weeks and the elimination-style playoffs have undone all his efforts during the regular season.

It would be the biggest shock of the season if the regular season champion crashes out of the title hunt in the first round.

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NASCAR analyst predicts Martin Truex Jr. will not advance into the Round of 12

Former NASCAR driver and NBC analyst Kyle Petty predicts tough times for the drivers below the cut-off mark, as he sees none of them advancing into the Round of 12.

Petty suggested that it would be tough for Martin Truex Jr. and others to claw the points deficit in a wild event like the Bristol Night Race, saying:

"As we go into Bristol, we look at Martin Truex. He lost 32 points yesterday. 32 — 32 points! Coming out of Kansas. He’s not going to make up 32 points in Bristol, I can tell you that."

He added:

"I am going to say this, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and I might be the only person in America that believes it, we may have seen this round set at Kansas, because I don’t believe that these four teams can recover that many points at a place like Bristol/"

One stat that stands in the favor of Martin Truex Jr. is that he has always advanced from the first round of the playoffs in his seven appearances.

Catch the playoff battle unfold live this weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway on September 16.