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NASCAR America: Despite stage wins, Martin Truex Jr. still needs to close out races

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Martin Truex Jr. has dominated by winning more stages than any other driver, but he must fix the small things in order to close the deal and win races.

Martin Truex Jr. is having a really good year. But it could be even better.

After 16 races in the Cup Series season, Truex and his Furniture Row Racing team are second in the points standings after two race wins, at Kansas Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But they also have a vast lead over the competition when it comes to stage wins with 11, the latest coming in Stage 1 at Sonoma Raceway. But their race ended in the garage with less than 25 laps left after Truex’s No. 78 Toyota had engine problems.

NASCAR America analyst Jeff Burton discussed how Furniture Row Racing needs to be finishing out races after consistently dominating the early portions.

“When the playoffs start we’re going to see the advantage that Martin Truex Jr. and his team have built for themselves,” Burton said. “The one thing that concerns me is that they haven’t won the races they’ve been in position (to). Things have come up, had issues. They’re going to have to find a way later in the playoffs to fix that. ... When you’re running this well, small things show up. When you’re running 15th, the problems they’re having finishing races, you don’t even notice them.”

Watch the above video for more on Truex.