Martin Truex Jr. Hints at Attempting Another Daytona 500 NASCAR Race

“It’s always disappointing when you don’t finish no matter what situation especially in a race like this when it’s probably our only shot this year,” said Truex. “Thanks to Bass Pro, TRICON and everybody that helped us put this together. It was fun while it lasted, but unfortunately, we were just wrong place, wrong time there. We were hoping to have a lot more fun than that.

"We were just biding our time, and just in a bad place on the restart there.”

It was his 21st attempt to win The Great American Race, which fell short before the halfway mark. The race also faced two red flags for weather, with the first one lasting over three hours long.

“I guess something happened up front and the whole outside lane just stacked up so hard by the time it got back to me,” Truex explained, reflecting on what he saw from his car as the wreck unfolded. “I just couldn’t get slowed down. Knocked the oil cooler out of it, and obviously, you can’t run without that, so unfortunate, wrong lane wrong time. It’s kind of been my Daytona luck.”

That Daytona luck has bit Truex from winning the ‘Super Bowl’ of NASCAR.

But Truex also hinted at making a 22nd attempt as early as next year.

“Probably, yeah,” Truex told reporters when asked if he would try the Daytona 500 again. “We’ll see. It’s a long way from now, so I got a lot of stuff to do between now and trying to figure that out again.”

Only two active drivers hold 20 or more starts in the Daytona 500. Kyle Busch, who made his 20th start on Sunday, also is winless in the Cup Series season opener. Truex announced his retirement from full-time competition and worked with TRICON Garage to make his 21st 500 start this weekend.