NASCAR: Nothing wrong with Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson incident

With all things considered, there was nothing wrong with the incident, from start to finish, involving Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson to close out the first round of the NASCAR playoffs.

On the 110th and final lap of the Bank of America Roval 400 to close out the round of 16, the first of four rounds in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the battle for the win appeared to be between Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson.

However, heading into the penultimate turn of the 17-turn, 2.28 mile (3.669-kilometer) Charlotte Motor Speedway roval in Concord, North Carolina, Johnson, seemingly trying to avoid hitting Truex Jr., locked up and spun out.

This spin sent his car into the rear of Truex Jr.’s car a few seconds later, causing Truex Jr.’s car to spin out and allowing Ryan Blaney to pass both drivers and take a shocking win.

Here is a video of the dramatic end of the race.

Johnson ended up finishing the race in eighth place while Truex Jr. ended up finishing in 14th. Truex Jr. proceeded to wreck Johnson between turns one and two on the cooldown lap while Johnson was left out of the round of 12 because of the fact that he fell from second to eighth.

Johnson tied with Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola for the final two round of 12 spots, but he lost out on the tiebreaker because their top finishes in the round of 16 were better than his.

Meanwhile, Truex Jr. actually entered the race having already locked up a spot in the round of 12. But in no way does that mean that he did not have the right to battle Johnson for the win, and in no way does that mean that he should have yielded to the seven-time Cup Series champion.

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Truex Jr. is still competing for playoff points, and he would have earned five more had he won the race. Plus, he has no interest in helping other drivers winning races or staying in the playoffs. He is worried about winning at all costs, as he should be. Wins are not easy to come by in the Cup Series.

Plus, it isn’t like Truex Jr. ruined Johnson’s chances to advance to the round of 12. Johnson would have advanced had he finished in second place, which Truex Jr. would have been fine with. Johnson missed out on the round of 12 because of himself, not Truex Jr., so it wasn’t like Truex Jr. was trying to help someone else advance to the round of 12 and that’s what cost Johnson.

That said, the fact that Johnson was on pace to advance to the round of 12 certainly does not mean that he was wrong to not settle for second place and to not try everything he could possibly try in order to get past Truex Jr. and win.

Johnson is on what is by far the longest win drought of his career, and a win would have given him his first five playoff points of the season and given him a ton of momentum heading into the round of 12. As stated, wins are hard to come by, and they are a whole lot better than second place finishes even if a second place finish results in advancement to the next round of the playoffs, which, in this particular case, it would have.

Johnson justifiably wanted to win that race. Anyone else in his position would have wanted the same thing.

But even with that in mind, after the race ended, Truex Jr. had every right to be frustrated with Johnson. Johnson effectively ruined Truex Jr.’s chance to win the race and score five playoff points, albeit completely unintentionally, and, not that Truex Jr. feels bad for Johnson since he didn’t win the race, his move ended up being pointless since he walked away in eighth place and out of the round of 12 instead of in first and heading into the round of 12 with his first win since he won the June race at Dover International Speedway in 2017 and with his first five playoff points of the season.

There isn’t any driver, especially any playoff driver, who is going to take being wrecked for position toward the end of a playoff race lightly. Just look at last year’s situation in the first race of the round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway involving fan-favorite Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

Elliott let everyone know that he was not happy with Hamlin after Hamlin spun him out for the race lead with three laps remaining. Hamlin, who didn’t win the race anyway, ended up being paid back by Elliott in the final race of the round of 8 at ISM Raceway, and it cost him a spot in the Championship 4.

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At the end of the day, the incident between Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson was a racing incident. Truex Jr. had no obligation to give Johnson the win and Johnson had no obligation to settle for second place. Truex Jr. also had every right to show his frustration after the race ended given the situation. NASCAR needs drama, and that’s exactly what this was — and with major playoff implications, no less.

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