MEXICO CITY — Over the past couple of weeks, Ryan Truex admits that when crew chief Chris Gayle texted him “my heart would stop.”
Did Denny Hamlin, awaiting the birth of his son, need Truex to drive his car?
“Is it yes or no?” Truex said. “Every time it was a maybe.”
Until Wednesday when Hamlin’s fiancee had the couple’s child and Hamlin decided to skip this weekend’s race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Truex — who is Joe Gibbs Racing’s reserve driver and also does much of the team’s simulation work — was on plane Thursday for Mexico.
The last time a Truex raced in Mexico, Martin Truex Jr. won the inaugural Xfinity race at this track in 2005. After Ryan Truex texted his big brother about his news, Martin texted back: “Truex’s are one-for-one in Mexico.”
As Ryan Truex noted: “So, no pressure.”
Two planes NASCAR chartered for Cup and Xfinity teams were grounded Thursday, forcing Trackhouse Racing to adjust travel plans.
This will be his first Cup start since 2014.
“My last time in Cup was not a fun experience,” Truex said of his time with BK Racing, an underfunded team that later went into bankruptcy and had to sell its charter. “It didn’t go well for me. I didn’t enjoy it. That was probably not the right move for me, career-wise, and I’ve kind of been fighting back since then.
“I enjoy everything I do at JGR. I’ve been able to race part time the last couple of years, and do all of this stuff away from the track. It has been nice. It has been fun to race part-time and have some Saturdays at home, but it is also fun to be at the track, so I feel like I’ve had a good balance the last few years and the Cup cars then are so different than what they are now.”
It’s the debut of NASCAR’s premier circuit on the Autodromos Hermanos Rodriguez.
Truex has 102 career Xfinity starts. He three career series wins have come in his last 18 Xfinity starts.
In Friday’s first practice session, Truex was 36th on the speed chart among 37 cars.
Truex says he has modest goals for this weekend.
“Really just want to enjoy it,” he said ahead of Friday’s practice sessions. “I don’t really have any set goals or expectations – I just want to enjoy the weekend. I’m driving a Cup car for Joe Gibbs at an international race – this is not something I ever dreamed of doing, just want to take it all in and have a good time.”
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