It’s Your 2013 Exit Interview: No. 16 Martin Truex Jr.
Welcome to From the Marbles' 2013 driver reviews. Here, we're going to critique, praise and bloviate about the top 30 drivers in the 2013 NASCAR season. Truex's time.
Oh man, where do we begin?
Sometimes in work and in life, the greatest punishments fall upon the people who are least responsible for the actions that spurred them. Unfortunately for you, Martin, you were a perfect example of that over the last three months of 2013.
That's not even taking into account the workplace injury you suffered in August and refused to take workman's comp for.
We don't really want to rehash spin-gate -- we'll be talking about that again with Clint shortly -- because we don't want to itch that scab. Oh, sorry. We said "itch."
After we've seen all the facts, your culpability in the mess at Richmond was the most minimal of everyone involved. However, that mess was designed to benefit you. And since it was, the big dogs in the hauler hit you hard. The reward that you were chasing -- and one that was solidified when the itch turned into a spin and a mysterious pit stop appeared -- disappeared entirely.
Can you take solace that your performance in the Chase would have been nowhere near the top of the standings? Likely not. We have no idea how the ramifications from Richmond affected your performance. A job search out of nowhere can certainly complicate things.
Luckily, there was a solid department with an opening. You were a perfect fit for each other. Everyone knew it, even if you didn't want to acknowledge it until you absolutely had to. And in all honesty, your future may be a little more solid than your previous department's. You're joining a Chase-worthy team, while they're missing out on millions of dollars.
Kurt Busch set a Chase standard there, and you've shown you're a Chase-worthy driver. You can etch that in stone by making it in 2014. And look on the bright side, you'll have no official teammates to give you any help to do it.
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is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Previous Reviews: No. 17 Paul Menard, No. 18 Aric Almirola, No. 19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 20, Jeff Burton, No. 21 Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 22 Marcos Ambrose, No. 23 Denny Hamlin, No. 24 Casey Mears, No. 25 Mark Martin, No. 26 David Gilliland, No. 27 Danica Patrick, No. 28 David Ragan, No. 29 Tony Stewart, No. 30 Dave Blaney
