Previous victory eases Truex's pain at Pocono

In Monday’s rain-delayed Axalta 400, Truex and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team once again appeared to have a car capable of contending for the win only to have unusual pit road incidents curtail his run.

His dominating win in last week’s Coca-Cola 600, however, has already locked Truex into this season’s championship Chase.

“We weren’t great, but had a shot at a much better finish than 19^th,” Truex said. “It was not the weekend we obviously wanted, but you just have to take what is given to you and move on. Michigan (next race) should be a good track for us and hopefully things will go much smoother.”

During an early-race competition caution, the Furniture Row driver – then running 12^th – came down pit road for a planned two-tire stop but as he exited his pit stall, his right-front fender took a severe hit from Matt DiBenedetto.

The contact also pushed Truex into the wall causing more damage to the left-side of his #78 Toyota. After numerous repairs, Truex restarted the race in the rear of the field.

Truex had worked his way back up to 16^th when he elected to pit under caution on Lap 117 for what was going to be another two-tire stop. It looked like he would restart the race in the top-five, but was forced back down pit road again when his right-rear tire blew.

The problem this time? A flying lug nut from the old tire landed behind the wheel, shearing off the tire’s inner stem valve.

“It was a fluke, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” he said.