Martin Truex Jr.’s runner-up finish Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway earned the Furniture Row Racing driver a spot in the Final Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19. There is one playoff race remaining before Homestead — at Phoenix, Sunday Nov. 12.
It will be Truex’s second visit to the Final Four in the last three years. He also accomplished the feat in 2015.
The NASCAR Series Cup champion will be determined at Homestead with the driver having the best finish among the four finalists. The three drivers already locked into the Final Four are Truex, Kyle Busch and Sunday’s race winner Kevin Harvick.
Truex, who led a race high of 107 laps, lost the lead to Harvick with 10 laps remaining.
“The Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota got loose in the final run and we just couldn’t hold off the No. 4 (Harvick),” Truex said after the race. “But on the good side of things, we did what we had to do to compete for the season title at Homestead in two weeks. I am really proud of this team, the guys on the road and all the guys back at the shop in Denver for building fast race cars.”
It was the second straight runner-up result for Truex, who also finished second last week in Martinsville, Va.
Take away the Talladega race where Truex was involved in multicar accident, his average finish in the other seven playoff races is 2.28. He has had three wins, two runners-up, a fourth and a fifth.