Martin Truex Jr. heads to Kansas Speedway this weekend sitting second in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings.
He'll also arrive with a new paint scheme for his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, courtesy of sponsor Auto-Owners Insurance. It will be the first of six races this season with Auto-Owners as his primary sponsor on the car, and Truex is hoping it will help change his luck at the 1.5-mile track where he has yet to win in 17 career starts.
That includes some races there recently where he's suffered some bad luck -- none worse than in last year's spring event when he started from the pole and led a race-high 172 laps, but finished 14th. He also led 95 laps in the 2015 spring race at Kansas, only to finish ninth.
No matter how many heartbreaks we've had at Kansas, I have all the confidence that our team will provide me with another fast race car and we will once again be competing for the win, Truex said in a team release. I am excited about having our car with the Auto-Owners Insurance colors for the first time this season. We had good runs last year with the blue Auto-Owners Toyota, including a victory at the Southern 500 (Darlington, S.C.)."
Truex already owns one win this season, going to Victory Lane at Kansas. He also has the most stage wins in the Cup Series with five, is second in stage points earned (124) and second in playoff bonus points earned (10).
In the first nine races of the season, he's earned two top-five and six top-10 finishes while leading a total of 432 laps. Obviously, he's looking to add to those impressive totals in the car featuring the paint scheme below.
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