Notebook: Gamble doesn't pay off for Truex, Manion

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Martin Truex Jr. was one of three drivers who dominated the Checker Auto Parts 500, none of whom were winner Jimmie Johnson, but a late strategy call to stay on the racetrack when most of the trailing leaders did not doomed the man who led 72 laps in his No. 1 Chevrolet, before finishing seventh.

Matt Kenseth led a race-high 93 laps and his Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards led the race's first 87 laps before his car's engine failed.

"We had an awesome car all day long [but] the cautions didn't fall the way we needed them to," Truex said. "We lost our track position there that one time and could never really get it back.

Truex last led from Laps 270-288, before Johnson took over for the final 24 laps.

"It was unfortunate at the end," Truex said. "We stayed out. We were taking a gamble. If we pitted I don't think we could have won so we stayed out and tried to do what we could do [but] we were a sitting duck there at the end."

Johnson won his fourth consecutive race by being best when it counted but Truex, who started the race on the outside of the front row for the fourth time this season, said that didn't factor into his crew chief, Kevin Manion's, decision.

"Well, we were trying to beat everyone, not just him -- I thought that we had a better car than he did all day," Truex said. "It seems like at the end they get something extra from somewhere. I don't know where it's from but they've been doing it lately."

Manion stepped up to take responsibility for the call.

"It was my decision," Manion said. "I wanted to stay out. The car was at its best and the tires only had 26 green-flag laps on them. I thought that was our best chance -- I absolutely thought more guys would stay out. We had only just run a short little run, but it proved to be wrong."

Not fancy passing

Sunday's race had only 10 lead changes, and precious few of them occurred via green-flag racing. Third-place finisher Kenseth blamed the equality fostered by the Car of Tomorrow.

"The cars are all so close to the same speed," said Kenseth, who posted his fourth consecutive top-five finish. (read more)

"You build this rules package and you make everything the same aerodynamically and they give you so little stuff to adjust that all the cars are gonna be closer to the same speed than when you have cars you can adjust and work on more stuff.

"The closer they are to the same speed, the harder it's gonna be to pass. That's easy to figure out. If everybody is running the same speed, how are you gonna pass? It's just little things to get your car better and to get out front."

Kenseth pointed out that the race last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, which had 28 lead changes among twice as many drivers as Sunday (12) as an example of what adjustability enabled.

"That's what we had last week, so I don't know -- for the racing, that's kind of what we had," Kenseth said. "[The COT] has taken away a lot of the adjustments that we used to have [but] the fact is, we're gonna race them all the time next year and that's about what you're gonna see for racing.

"I think the racing is still good. I think it's really competitive; it's just different than what we're accustomed to driving and different than what you guys are accustomed to seeing. I don't know if that's necessarily better or worse, it's just different."

Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle, who finished second, agreed with Kenseth's sentiment about trying to pass in the COT. (read more) (Continued)