Truex furious with DEI over impounded car
Quote selected text Published July 4th, 2008 in NASCAR News
Martin Truex Jr. was furious with his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team Thursday after was car was seized by NASCAR officials because it failed to fit the critical roof templates, which are keys to the aerodynamic performance of the car. The immediate effects were obvious enough:
Truex was forced to go to a backup after his primary car was taken prior to Thursday’s opening round of practice for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. His DEI team could not get the car ready in time to make the first of only two rounds of practice, which put Truex far behind the other drivers.
In fact, of the 45 cars entered in Saturday’s race, Truex’s #1 DEI Chevy was the only one that failed to make a single lap in the first practice session. And that had the Mayetta, N.J., native irked. Asked what the team told him was the problem, Truex said, “Something about the roof template. I don’t know. I guess NASCAR wasn’t happy with the way it fit. It’s their ballgame, it’s their call. They took the car. We’re trying to get our backup (car) ready, they had to put an engine in it and get everything ready.”
And he made it clear he was not happy with his team. “Somebody made a big mistake,” said Truex, who is expected to leave DEI after his contract expires at the end of 2008. “That shouldn’t happen at this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. We’ll go on. Hopefully we’ll make the second practice.”
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Martin Truex needs to leave DEI, it is a hold-up to his career. He is a much better driver than what their equipment allows him to be. DEI has been a sinking ship for a couple of years and now it is about gone.
I wouldn’t blame this so much on DEI as I would whoever the two or three people were that hung the body on that chassis.
What I want to know is how much the roof was off. Was it a blatant major difference, or was it a small difference that could be attributed to a misreading of a tape measure?
And how come this wasn’t caught at the shop? Are the teams templates wrong? Did NASCAR ever distribute official templates like they said they were going to or are the teams still using “homemade” ones?
Truex is done at DEI now. He’s leaving and he’ll land a good spot at a higher tier team. Icing on the cake.
If it was a template issue, why has it been just caught now and not earlier. A couple of people wanted to try something funny and it backfired on everyone. Sure, a couple of people are going to get thrown under the bus over it but it’s the culture of half@$$ishness that is prevalent at DEI.
The rats are leaving the ship. Look for DEI to get bought out and merged with another struggling team.
100 owner points, 100 driver points, 100,000. no crew chief for 6 races
TEI SUCKS, go KYLE
Kyle sux TEI-TEIs on a bull
How many RCR cars were impounded? “0″ That means that RCR cars are not just TEI cars!
i think the penalty will be 150 points an money. crew an car chief are gone for 6 weeks.
Fisha695 wrote:
Bono said it was barely off the template, but NASCAR took it anyway. It just really sucks for Martin…he was definitely on a Chase run. That’s pretty much out the window now.
I still say that Martin needs to leave. DEI’s going down…and it’s really sad to see.
JAG wrote:
*****************************************************
AND NO THIS IS NOT MY COUSIN !!!
THIS IS A DIFFERENT JAG…
This would never happen at RCR “Truex to THE 33 in ‘09
George Thompson wrote:
I agree truex has a good future leave DEI now before your career goes down the toilet with that company.
I don’t see a driver without a PCP going to the 33 car unless one of RCR’s drivers this year win a championship so that they can swap points.
Say Truex goes to RCR, gets taken out in the duel, the 33 car misses the race, Truex’s 2010 season is done before it even started.
What Richard needs to do is talk with Chipper to see if the 40 team is really done, and if RCR can get the 40 teams owner points (before it falls farther outside the top 35) and then run the 33 car out of his pocket for the remainder of the season with a few different drivers in hopes of getting that car locked in for next year.
And then IF (and only IF) that happens could I see a driver without a PCP going to that ride.
I would have to think this was accidental. The teams all get their own templates and would be stupid to think they could get away with anything.
Get out Marty! Go to RCR go to Penske anywhere but DEI and their crappy equipment. Mark Martin leaving with less than a year in. He saw a sinking ship not long into his tenure there. She should have given it to Dale Jr and Kelley. Run Marty run!
Franco wrote:
))))))))))))))))))
More like incompetence!
I see DEI is doing the same thing to Martin Truex Jr, they did to Jr when he was leaving, NOTHING in the to Race with for the rest of the year.
Shows what kinds of teams and Owner are in the DEI stables.
DAMN
hahaha boohoo Truex. Got screwed by his own team. Yet, he spoke so smuch trash about Dale Jr leaving such an “awesome team.” Guess now he knows first hand. And, he isn’t all that like people claim he is, he just an OK driver. Nothing special there.
But, that sure was funny, “Truex furious”. Really? Ya think.
Fisha695 wrote:
I dont think richard is worried about PCP,if truex went to the 33 he wouldnt have any trouble making races besides there isnt a past champion worth putting in that car unless it were stewart or bobby labonte really but thats not happening.
And besides even if truex or whoever the driver might be got taken out in 1 of the duels they would still more than likely make the race by speed anyway.
Lee, you are forgetting the obvious, Mother Nature, Things beyond the drivers control. Don’t get me wrong I have all the faith in the world that Truex could qualify for every race, but like I said, He gets taken out in the Duel and misses the 500, well he is already 58 points out of 35th, well what if it rains in Cali, he misses another race and then he’d be at least 116 out of being locked in, Makes the next race and wins it, he still will not be in the top 35 and he’d have two more races to go until the current owner points would kick in.
See what I’m getting at?
Lee88-20 wrote:
That’s not always true, remember only 5 (6 if no Past Champ needs it) make it that way, and really that’s not a safe enough thing to say “I’ll use that as my back up plan”.
Oh I know as far as rain and things cant be controlled sometimes I agree with what your saying,like you said they could use points from another car but as far as richard hiring a past champ to run the 33 it would more than likely have to be a older driver which in that case I would go with terry labonte but RCR is looking for a young driver and im sure terry wouldnt want to run the whole season.
No but he could run the first 5 races to get the car locked in in
but then again that’d screw over the full time driver that’d take over that ride for the remainder of the season.
That’s why I like what I said above, Richard needs to find out if the 40 team is really done and if he can buy the owners points (or one of the several other teams just out side the top 35) and just run that 33 car from next week till the end of the season out of his pocket/with whatever sponsors he can get, and an all-star cast of drivers. Either to get the car into the top 35, or to get as many attempts as possible so in the case of rain the first 5 races next season he may be locked in on attempts from last season.
this is just step #1 for Truex to starting talking to Smoke for his HAAS ride, or to RCR for the #33 ride…He would be a better fit at RCR than Casey Mears would anyday…
TEI SUCKS….and it always will…that will leave PAUL MENARD as their leading driver and we all know how efficient he is
Know-It-All wrote:
Shut up JAKE
GO JR………………GO KYLE……………..Brothers in arms……………….
Fisha695 wrote:
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Good thing for RCR that they do not share more than motor’s with DEI! Right Fisha!
TNT has it screwed up tonight showing that crapola at the bottom, GO JR !!!
Sam wrote:
Sam the only thing RCR and DEI have in common is they share R & D work on there motors, I asked Danny this week about this subject and that is all it is.
a non muse 1 wrote:
Martin is just as good as any driver out there, he just needs good equipment and chemistry to win races, as far as him getting in races he wont have any trouble getting in on speed. and as far as him talking trash about Dale, I never heard it, he talks to Dale almost everyday, they are best friends.
Jag, as always your a jerk, i feel sorry for Martin, he had a chance to be in the chase.
Fisha695 wrote:
Hey Fisha, who are they going to get to drive that car that has a PCP?
Current drivers - Stewart, B. Labonte, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Johnson, Gordon… The only one that MIGHT leave their team would be Stewart, but it would have to be for ownership in RCR, and I doubt Richard will give it up.
That leaves a couple of part-timers that might be able to step in - Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott. Yeah those two would get you in the race, but they’ll run like crap and chances are you might still be on the outside looking in after the first 5 races, and they might have used up all their provisionals by that time. Doubt Richard would be able to pull Rusty or DJ out of retirement to use their PCPs.
Oh and to get back on the story’s topic. Yes, DEI sucks a fat one! Can’t wait for Martin to get to a new team and see what he can really do!