It’s Official: NASCAR Has A New 1.5-Mile Master

1.5-mile tracks account for 11 races throughout NASCAR’s Cup Series season and there’s a new driver finding success at the signature venues.

When you think of NASCAR, you often think of restrictor plate racing, short tracks or even road courses. However, 1.5-mile tracks can be defined as the most important track in the circuit.

Think about it. There’s six 1.5-mile tracks in the regular season that come in the form of Atlanta, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas, Charlotte and Kentucky.

Then the Chase arrives and the next five out of ten races come at Chicagoland, Charlotte, Kansas, Texas and Homestead. Basically, drivers have to race well at 1.5-mile tracks in order to find success in the Cup Series.

Since the year 2011, NASCAR has seen five different drivers win championships. In four out of those five seasons, the champion has won at least two 1.5-mile track races.

When it comes to who excels at such tracks in NASCAR today, most people tend to go with the last three champions of the Cup Series: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson. In the 2015 season, these three drivers had a combined average finished of 9.9 at 1.5-mile tracks with wins in seven of the 11 total races as Johnson had four, Busch had two and Harvick had one. In fact, they combined to lead more than a third of the total laps at those tracks.

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But even with those drivers continuing to dominate that category of NASCAR action, one new name has popped into the equation: Martin Truex Jr.

Truex’s career is quite unique. He’s won four races in 2015 and 2016 combined after winning just three in his first nine full-time seasons.

Coming from a single-car team, Truex reinvented himself and his racing team in 2015, winning just his second race since 2007 and earning a spot in the Chase. After making it all the way to the Championship 4 and finishing fourth in the overall standings, Truex and his team made a big change.

For the 2016 season, they switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota and formed an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing–the best team in NASCAR right now.

Truex busted out of the gates in 2016. He set a career-high in laps led after just the 13th week of the season and won at Charlotte, setting an all-time record at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the most laps led in a race (392).

He stayed competitive in the standings throughout the year and capped off the regular season with a win at Darlington and a second-place finish at Richmond. Now, he’s coming off of a win at Chicagoland–the first race of the Chase–and he’s already earned a spot in the Round of 12.

Truex is currently enjoying the best stretch of his career and has a lot of confidence in himself and his team. He had this to say after his last win (via ESPN.com):

"“I’ve never been in a position where I feel like we can go anywhere and win,” Truex said after celebrating his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 victory. “Right now I feel like any race track, any weekend, anywhere in the country we can win.”"

While Truex has all the momentum in the world, his success has stemmed from one thing in particular: his performances at 1.5-mile tracks.

It helps that two of his four wins in the past two seasons have come at tracks of that length, but even when he isn’t winning, he’s still competing at a high level.

In 2015, Truex had an average finish of 9.0 at 1.5-mile tracks as he went on to lead 272 laps with his most notable races coming at Kansas and Charlotte, when he led 95 laps and 131 laps respectively.

However, this season, he’s taken it up a notch. Through 27 races, Truex has an average finish of 7.1 at 1.5-mile tracks with 817 laps led and wins at both Charlotte and Chicagoland. Those 817 laps led alone would be a career high for him. Plus, he dominated the Coca-Cola 600, leading all but eight laps.

He’s absolutely stole the show at NASCAR’s signature tracks this season and for that reason, you have to consider him the best 1.5-mile racer in the sport right now.

Luckily, he has a few more chances to prove himself at the tracks, as NASCAR still has Charlotte, Kansas, Texas and Homestead to run before the Chase is over.

For the first time in his career, Truex is in a good situation. One where he has a legitimate chance to win every weekend. One where he’s in an alliance with four superstar teammates. One where he’s competing for championships.

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Keep a close eye on Martin Truex Jr. as the 2016 season moves closer to Homestead. His performance at 1.5-mile tracks has already gotten him to the second round of the Chase, and we’ll likely see him race well at another signature NASCAR track this season.