Truex looking forward to future with new team (cont'd)

"It's things like that that have constantly happened to us all year and taken finishes away," Truex said of the Texas penalty. "I think we've had like four top-10 finishes this year and that's no way indicative of how we've run on the race track. It's just the way the year has gone. It's been one of those years where we can't seem to do anything right."

He does indeed enter Sunday's race with more DNFs (five) than top-10 finishes (four). And he has yet to post a top-five finish -- after posting a total of 10 top-fives and 31 top-10s in the previous two seasons, which also included the only win of his career at Dover in 2007.

Truex said he hopes to turn his career around at MWR, where Pat Tryson will become his new crew chief. Tryson is finishing up this year as Kurt Busch's crew chief.

But while he looks optimistically toward his future, Truex admitted he would like nothing better than to finish up strong with Manion and EGR. He said he and Manion -- more affectionately known to Truex and others in the garage as "Bono" -- have developed a close friendship that will remain intact even as they both move on to new challenges.

"I think our relationship will never change. We've been together since 2003 and he's been there every step of the way for all of our success. He's been the guy steering that," Truex said of Manion. "So I have a ton of respect for him and am so thankful for him and for all he's ever done for me. I don't think that'll change.

"I think both of us are kind of on the same page as far as that it was time to do something different. I think as hard as it was on both of us, it was probably the best thing. I think Bono is a great crew chief and I think his best years are ahead of him. It just seemed like we just weren't getting it done like we used to. And so in that way change is a good thing."

Truex admitted that he is trying to pull off a balancing act between concentrating on finishing this season strong with Manion and looking ahead to what next season might hold with Tryson.

"Obviously I've still been focusing a lot of my efforts on this year and what we've been doing. But there are a lot of things happening with our team for next year that I'm excited about," Truex said. "Pat is getting some guys pulled together and kind of molding the group that we're going to have on our team next year. They continue to move forward as a team and I'm excited to be part of that next year."

Related
• Truex takes first lap at PIR to third pole of the season