There was a noticeable face absent from the celebration following Martin Truex Jr.'s win Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.
Instead of meeting him in victory lane, Truex’s longtime girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, was celebrating from a hospital bed.
While she was celebrating Truex’s 10th career Cup win, she was also celebrating having undergone successful surgery to deal with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she was originally diagnosed with in 2014.
Pollex, 38, had been cancer free for well over a year. She had her last round of precautionary chemotherapy in January 2016 after 17 months of treatment for Stage III ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is a growth of abnormal malignant cells that begins in the ovaries.
“We found out a while ago about (the recurrence),” Truex said Saturday night. “She went in this weekend to have some surgery done. Everything went perfectly good, went as planned. I’m going to bring her home tomorrow. Excited to get home and see her, and everything is going great.”
Truex called Pollex from victory lane.
“As soon as I got out of the car, I had one of my guys call her,” Truex said. “She was pretty excited.”
Pollex was busy on Twitter following the race, sharing a photo of her celebrating from her hospital bed and letting fans know she was OK. In response to a tweet from Kenny Wallace, Pollex said the procedure “wasn’t small.”
Family selfie from my hospital room!!! Wahoo!!! GO MTJ!! 🏁🏁🏁🙌👍👏👏👏👏 #NeverGiveUp pic.twitter.com/gAS1PDU3vb
— Sherry Pollex (@SherryPollex) July 9, 2017
Thank you for all the well wishes. I'll be back at the track soon 💪💪💪#ovariancancer #NeverGiveUp 💙
— Sherry Pollex (@SherryPollex) July 9, 2017
Had to undergo some surgery for a recurrence. Hope to go home tomorrow. I'll be back at the track soon 💙💪#ovariancancer #NeverGiveUp https://t.co/QhIuXeaIP8
— Sherry Pollex (@SherryPollex) July 9, 2017
Thank you my friend. 😘😘😘 wasn't small but I'm tough 💪 I'll be back soon!!! Love you 😘
— Sherry Pollex (@SherryPollex) July 9, 2017
Sunday evening Pollex tweeted a Vine of Truex pushing her in a wheel chair as they prepared to leave the hospital to head home.
We're burning rubber out of this joint!!! Trophy's still in the backseat of the @Toyota Tundra 👍 going home to celebrate 🏁🙌💙💪 pic.twitter.com/aLhTy92WJp
— Sherry Pollex (@SherryPollex) July 9, 2017