No. 19 Toyota Camry TRD Automobile Owners Insurance News & Notes
- TRUEX IN MARTINSVILLE: Martin Truex Jr. is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at Martinsville Speedway with all three wins in the last six trips to the track. After repeatedly approaching victory lane, Truex finally broke through decisively in October 2019 when he led 464 laps on his way to victory. He backed up that victory with another win the following June. Most recently, Truex led 20 laps to win the track’s April 2021 event. Overall, he has eight top-10 finishes in the last 10 trips to Martinsville. Earlier this season, Truex finished 22nd after having to make an unscheduled green-flag pit stop due to a loose wheel.
- FARM SUMMARY: Truex led 28 laps – all on the final stage – before eventually finishing sixth in last weekend’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After spending most of the day racing in the top five, the Mayetta, New Jersey native took the lead on a late restart and held onto it until the teams made their final pit stops with less than 25 laps to go. A pit road error spun the #19 Camry and Truex restarted outside the top 15 with 17 laps to go. Despite an incredible charge in the final laps, he could only come back to sixth place when the checkered flag was waved.
- SELF-OWNERS: Auto-Owners Insurance will be the title sponsor of Truex’s #19 Camry TRD for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. The Lansing, Michigan-based company offers multiple lines of insurance, including life, home, auto and business to customers in 26 states. 2022 marks Auto-Owners’ fourth year with Joe Gibbs Racing, as they will once again be featured for eight races on the #19 Camry. For more Auto-Owners, visit www.auto-owners.com.
- JGR IN MARTINSVILLE: Joe Gibbs Racing has 13 NASCAR Cup Series wins at Martinsville Speedway. In 158 combined starts on the 0.526-mile oval, the organization posted 54 top fives, 84 top 10s, 10 poles and 6,111 laps led. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart join Truex on the list of drivers who took JGR to victory at Martinsville Speedway.
- TO AGREE: Coverage of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway begins Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Automobile Owners Insurance Toyota Camry TRD
What do you expect from your return to Martinsville?
“I hope it’s a better race for us than the first time there. We were a bit off compared to how we had been there for a few years with the old car. I felt like everything was going pretty well in the race, so if we could just offload a bit closer and be able to qualify better, that would help a lot. I feel like we’ve learned a lot as a company since that first race and our teammates tested there a while back, so I think we’ll definitely be better, but it’s going to be really tough to pass like we saw it in the spring. Qualifying and pit road are going to be very important; not that they aren’t always, but this week more than usual.
PR JGR