"We come here to gamble" - Martin Truex Jr. feels he had a 'third-place car, maybe fourth' at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Martin Truex Jr., winner of this season's opening race at the LA Memorial Coliseum, is one driver who has been trying to replicate the success he had at the Busch Light Clash once again to keep his momentum up throughout the Cup Series season this year. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was one of the better performers last weekend when he was seen behind the wheel of his #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Pennzoil 400 saw the 42-year-old clinch a top 10 finish after crossing the checkered flag in P7 on a day where Chevrolets from Hendrick Motorsports' camp were the cars to beat. The New Jersey native elaborated on how he and the team were in Sin City's spirits as the #19 crew gambled on taking no new tires for the late caution flag that flew during the 400-mile-long race. Hoping for the leaders to come together at some point, Martin Truex Jr. was banking on a crash at the front to get a chance to visit Victory Lane. He elaborated on the strategy further and said:

"We just hoped we would get to the white (flag) and maybe they would crash. We did okay the first lap. We held second there for almost a whole lap and got into one in second after the white so we were in pretty good shape there, but got real tight in one and two and got freight-trained down the backstretch. We were going to run probably at best third or fourth and threw a hail Mary and finished seventh so not really a big deal there.”

Martin Truex Jr., who did go along with the team's strategy to gamble on not taking a fresh set of tires for the restart, was not fully convinced if the move was going to work out in the team's favor as he accepted post-race, saying:

“I wasn’t sure, you never know. It almost happened. We were second at the white, we were second going into turn one on the last lap and just got tight and got in a bad spot coming off of turn two and lost momentum down the back. Could never quite get it where we need it. I think we were about a third-place car, maybe fourth. Just a good, solid day. We’re in Vegas, we might as well roll the dice and like everybody says, we come here to gamble."

Martin Truex Jr.'s crew chief elaborates on the team's strategy during the Pennzoil 400 last Sunday

James Smalls, crew chief for the #18 Toyota Camry TRD driven by Martin Truex Jr., elaborated on the team's decision to gamble on 40-lap old tires during the final restart of last weekend's race and said:

“It’s a lottery anyway, best we could have run is third had it stayed green. Those Hendrick (Motorsports) cars just had a little bit more today.”

The NASCAR Cup Series goes live from Phoenix Raceway next weekend for United Rentals Work United 500.