Martin Truex Jr. dominated the second half of the New Hampshire 301 on Sunday but ultimately finished 16th. The Furniture Row Racing driver led 123 laps but was unable to contend for the win after his shifter broke and clutch burnt out.
The misfortune left Truex stuck in fourth gear and hoping not to get run over on a series of late restarts. It was the second straight week where Truex had a car fast enough to challenge for the race win but had something go wrong. In Kentucky, Truex was running inside the top five when he was penalized on a pit stop for passing to the inside.
“Just all in all a total team effort,” Truex told NBCSN afterward. “The pit crew was outstanding today, best they’ve been all year by far. We’re doing everything right, we’re just taking some on the chin here, but this isn’t when it counts so we’ll just keep our head up, keep working hard. Our race cars are fast, and everybody is doing a great job.”