Dale Earnhardt Jr. compares modern road course dominance to the 1980s
Martin Truex Jr.’s dominance at Sonoma Raceway continued last weekend. The 42-year-old NASCAR driver claimed his fourth career victory at the track, leaving everyone in the dust on his way to the finish line. His continued success at the road course impressed Dale Earnhardt Jr.
On his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt applauded the success of drivers like Truex and a few others who continually find success on road courses. He compared those drivers to some of the legends from a few decades ago.
“Truex dominates again on a road course — not a big surprise there,” Earnhardt said. “They were showing graphics of these guys winning road course races and it’s Truex, it’s Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch.
“Man, in the 80s, you knew who was good at a road course. It was Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte … there were two or three guys that were just better than all of the other guys out there.”
Earnhardt provided some interesting perspective, saying those drivers don’t necessarily do anything differently. Sometimes, it’s just a talent certain guys own.
“I gotta give Truex credit. I gotta give Chase Elliott credit. Those wins that they racked up wasn’t just because they hit on a little secret that nobody else had,” Earnhardt said. “I think, truly, the guys with the most wins like Truex and Elliott just have that natural ability to figure out how to get around those places that some guys just don’t possess.”
Martin Truex Jr. on a hot streak
While Earnhardt raved about Truex’s success at Sonoma over the course of his career, the driver has actually been on quite the hot streak in the NASCAR Cup Series. The No. 19 car has found itself in great position each of the last three races.
Along with his win at Sonoma, Truex placed third at the Coco-Cola 600 and fifth in the Enjoy Illinois 300. Those recent finishes catapulted him up to the top spot in the Cup Series standings.
Truex owns a pair of victories with eight finishes inside the top-10 this year. He’s only failed to finish one race through 16 regular season events.
Heading into this weekend’s Ally 400 at Nashville, FOX’s Bob Pockrass has Truex listed as the No. 1 driver in his weekly power rankings. He’s also tied with Denny Hamlin with the fourth-best odds to win the Cup Series title (8-to-1).
The NASCAR Cup Series continues Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway for the Ally 400. The green flag waves at 7 p.m. ET with the race airing on NBC.