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BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Martin Truex Jr. was taught a lesson on Sunday about the etiquette of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway he better never forget.
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| Martin Truex Jr. was highly frustrated after his Cup debut at Bristol. Credit: Autostock | |
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| Inside the Numbers |
| Rookie stats at Bristol |
| Driver |
Start |
Finish |
Laps |
|
| D. Hamlin |
33 |
14 |
500 |
| R. Sorenson |
22 |
22 |
499 |
| C. Bowyer |
27 |
29 |
495 |
| J.J. Yeley |
24 |
33 |
469 |
| D. Stremme |
26 |
36 |
435 |
| M. Truex Jr. |
25 |
38 |
430 |
| B. Sherman |
31 |
42 |
302 | | |
Already a lap down, Truex was tapped from behind on Lap 414 and spun by Jeff Gordon, who was running in the top five at the time. As if that wasn't bad enough, Truex was penalized for a pit-road commitment.
"Yeah! The 24 just flat spun me out. I don't know why," said Truex, who finished 38th.
By then Truex's emotions were out of control.
A little more than 20 laps later Truex plotted his revenge. On Lap 437 he attempted to pin Gordon up the track. But in doing so he blocked the path of Tony Stewart, who also was running in the top five.
Stewart, not exactly the most patient of drivers, especially where rookies are concerned, bumped Truex out of the way. Truex went spinning and slammed into the inside wall of the front straightaway, where the first incident also took place.
"That second time I was probably doing something that I shouldn't have done," Truex said. "I should have just let those guys go but I raced them. I guess they didn't like it too much."
That sent the No. 1 Chevrolet behind the wall and Truex to the infield care center, where he was examined and released.
"After the first time I got spun out we were pretty much down," Truex said. "But it's unfortunate. We just had a rough day. We battled back and we were about to get our lap back when we got spun out."
Truex and the rest of his 2006 rookie class was indoctrinated into Cup racing at Bristol in a collision-packed, caution-filled day at the troublesome bullring.
All of the rookies had their fair share of excitement. Brent Sherman had a little bit more.
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| Kurt Busch earned his fifth career victory at Bristol. Credit: Autostock | |
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| Food City 500 |
| Results |
| Pos. |
Driver |
Make |
|
| 1. |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
| 2. |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevy |
| 3. |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
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