Truex comes up just short of fifth victory

DOVER, Del. -- Martin Truex Jr. is a relative newcomer to NASCAR Busch Series racing, but he's already learned how to play the game.

Truex dominated Monday's rain-delayed MBNA America 200 at Dover International Speedway, leading the most laps for the fourth time this season. He looked well on his way to his series-leading fifth victory before eventually settling for second.

Still, Truex talked like a veteran after the race.

"Well, it was a great day for us," said Truex, who made his 29th career Busch start. "We couldn't take the win, but second's just as good -- almost. Great points day, I think we led the most laps. ... I'll take second any day. The points are great, so everything's looking good."

	Truex celebrates his win at Bristol. Credit: Autostock

Yes, Truex did pick up 25 points on leader Kyle Busch to close with 13. But winning, at least on this day, seemed secondary.

Or maybe Truex was simply masking the hurt of losing a race.

"We had one of the best cars all day," Truex said. "We just lost the track a little bit there at the end. I was real good up through the middle of the race, and (winner Greg) Biffle was real, real loose when I got behind him. We freed it up that last stop - just not enough. We were just too tight at the end of the race."

Truex's Chance 2 Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field when the race finally restarted Monday morning on lap 33. After Robert Pressley and Jamie McMurray led the race, Truex took control.

From lap 61 to lap 145, Truex was out front for 75 laps. No one could touch him, but that might have been his downfall. Truex later said he regretted not making more adjustments on his No. 8 car, and the handling slowly went away.

VIDEO CLIPS Greg Biffle celebrates his third win of the 2004 NBS season Play video Truex Jr. and David Green discuss their top-three finishes Play video Robby Gordon cuts a tire while leading with 90 to go Play video A crazy start as racing resumes in the MBNA America 200 Play video The early laps are marred by two cautions Play video

A caution for debris with 55 laps to go ultimately determined the outcome. Truex and crew chief Bono Manion debated whether to pit or not, but Truex warned that his right-front tire was wearing.

"We talked about it for a while," Truex said. "We were going to pit, and then we weren't going to pit. I was getting tight already, and my right-front was feeling too good, so we decided to pit and get tires."

David Green, Kevin Harvick and three other cars stayed on the track, and Truex lost a couple spots in the pits. When the race restarted on lap 50, Truex was ninth. But he was still confident he could get back to the front.

"Our lap times were real good once we got going," Truex said. "I just had to drive my right-front off real hard getting in the corner to pass cars and get by some guys. That really hurt us."

Truex forced the issue, passing as many cars as he could as quickly as he could. But Biffle was running a little better at that point and scooted into the lead with 21 laps to go. Truex eventually caught Green, too, but it was too late.

"David was on a little bit older tires than we were," Truex said. "My car got real tight at the end. We were just out there sliding around. Neither one of us had a very good car at the end, and I just got a little bit of a run on him off of 2. I was lucky enough to get beside him pass him getting into 3."

By then, Biffle was too far out in front, and Truex had nothing left in his car.

"I just had to run real hard," Truex said. "We just got behind some of them lapped cars, and I had to drive real, real hard and just hurt my right-front the first few laps of that run, and it never quite came back to me."

So all things considered, maybe second place isn't so bad after all.