Truex Jr. sees playoff bust if mistakes aren’t ‘cleaned up’

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are coming, and Martin Truex Jr. sounds a little concerned. Truex Jr. and the No. 78 team have done more than enough to lock into the field with four wins in the regular season and seven stage wins. The Furniture Row Racing team currently sits third in points just behind Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, his two counterparts in the "Big 3" who have dominated a majority of the season. MORE: Complete Darlington results However, Truex's 11th-place finish in Sunday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington is the fourth finish outside the top 10 since his victory at Kentucky. An uncharacteristic stat that isn't going unnoticed by the reigning champion. It's hard to defend a championship if you're not in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and the driver of the No. 78 issued a warning of sorts following Sunday's showing. "It's really disappointing to have a car that good to be up front and have that many troubles on pit road," Truex said. "It’s pretty disappointing. We have to clean it up. Playoffs are coming. We do that in the playoffs and we’ll be out in the second round.”