Truex on Ragan: ‘He’s probably got one coming’
RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings
Martin Truex Jr.’s run at Sonoma Raceway came to a sudden halt Sunday afternoon in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
Truex made contact with David Ragan on Lap 28 and wrecked in Turn 7, going into a tire barrier on the course.
Truex went three rows deep into the tire barrier and his No. 78 Chevrolet was towed to the garage. The incident brought out the red flag as track workers repaired the fence.
“Definitely a tough day,” Truex Jr. said after being released from the infield care center. ” … When you start around 20th on those restarts, it’s just a recipe for disaster. I was trying to be aggressive, made some moves. Had a couple cars passed and then the lane that I was in jammed up and the guys that I passed got back behind me.
“You just get frustrated, you lose patience. I got into the 55’s (Ragan’s) door a little bit in Turn 7 and I guess he didn’t like it and he figured he’d just dump me. He’s probably got one coming, but other than that, it’s just part of the restart deal and hate that I got my guys’ car torn up.”
Truex finished 42nd. A winner in 2013 at the 1.99-mile road course, Truex started the race in 12th position but would finish in 42nd-place, his worst result of the season. After a top-10 effort at Michigan on June 14, he became the first driver since Richard Petty in 1969 to have 14 top-10 finishes in the first 15 races of a season.
Ragan would later exit the race after wrecking with Carl Edwards on Lap 78 and finished 39th.
“With Martin, he just flat-out door-slammed me and ran me completely off the race track,” Ragan said after a wreck later in the race sidelined his No. 55 Toyota. “I had all four tires in the gravel and again, I’m just trying to blend back on the race track and he was right there. So Martin just made a mistake and he paid the price for it.”
— NASCAR.com’s Zack Albert contributed to this report