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Truex Jr.ready for battle in Phoenix 500

Martin Truex Jr.'s Toyota has run strong in the past at the Phoenix spring race.

Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota

Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota

Eric Gilbert

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 56 NAPA Filters Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. predicts this weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway will serve as the best preview of what race fans can expect from NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car in 2013. Truex raced as high as second and appeared ready to battle for victory in the Daytona 500 before engine issues relegated him to an 24th-place finish. This weekend’s race on a mile oval where downforce and handling are more important will be the real test of which teams and drivers will thrive with the new cars.

Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota
Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

TRUEX ON PHOENIX & GEN-6: “The fastest car will be up front. Phoenix is a great racetrack. It’s put on some great racing since they repaved it. There are a lot of questions that have gone unanswered when it comes to the flatter, shorter tracks with the new Gen-6 car. It’s going to be an interesting weekend and I think we are going to see a lot of things that come up that we didn’t expect. I think it will be interesting to see what teams have a real handle on this car. Who did the best homework in the off season? That’s what I am really excited about. I want to go there and see what Michael Waltrip Racing has. I know that we have had strong cars at Phoenix in the past. Last year we were really strong. Now it’s time to see what we really have. It should be really fun.

“The track rates very high on my scale. I’ve had a lot of strong runs there in the past. In the fall, we qualified second. We had a really fast car. I believe we had the best car in race trim all weekend long. Unfortunately we had a mechanical failure during the second lap of the race so we will never know what could have been. So now, I am looking forward to going back and taking advantage of another fast NAPA Toyota. Chad has some great ideas as to what he wants to do and what he expects to happen with this new car.”

Michael Waltrip Racing

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