Bubba Wallace’s Spotter Freddie Kraft asserted that Martin Truex Jr. would have won the race at Richmond if not for his strategy.
The Cup Series race at Richmond saw Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin get his and the team’s first win of the 2022 Cup Series season. However, it could have as well been Truex Jr. who would have achieved this feat for the team. A switch in strategy in stage 3 meant that even after a strong race he returned empty-handed.
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Kraft was bemused with the strategy Truex Jr. had on that race and felt that it cost the No. 19 driver his win.
“I was very confused that why the (No.) 19 switched their strategy because I think they’d have probably won the race if they stayed on the same strategy,” Kraft said. “They were two-stop in the second stage and they won the second stage. And then, for some reason, they switched back to a one-stop there in the last stage and got beat.”
“They were ahead of Denny (Hamlin), and it was gonna come down to them and the 20 and 24 I felt like,” he continued.
“And for some reason, they decided to make a switch, and switch strategies and it cost them.”
While it might have been a bad day for Truex Jr. but for Kraft’s driver Bubba Wallace it has been a very bad season. There were early promises with a 2nd place finish at Daytona 500 but since then Wallace has not yet gotten a top-10 finish.