Has MTJ Gained a Step?

Revman

Revman

Toyota Gazoo Racing North America
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Okay, MTJ is with a new Crew Chief, and after a year of promise last year is rolling. Dominates when the drivers have to wrestle the cars all day. Time to give him some credit?
 
Revman said:
Okay, MTJ is with a new Crew Chief, and after a year of promise last year is rolling. Dominates when the drivers have to wrestle the cars all day. Time to give him some credit?
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When he held off KB in Homestead for the Championship was the moment he convinced me he was elite. His lap times were almost identical lap after lap. Thats focus, thats talent. Thats a Champion.
 
I guess I’ll move my comment from the race thread over here.


ChexOrWrex said:
I’m not going to shy away from saying that I thought his early success streak was a fluke and that he would fade away in a season or two. He and that team has absolutely proven me wrong. MTJ is the epitome of never giving up and should receive more praise for his work ethic in becoming a much better driver.

Though there are still times where things happen and I say “well theres the old MTJ shining though” with instances like him wrecking out himself and Kyle Busch at Indy or wrecking out himself and Chase Elliott at Darlington. That being said, those individual moments of error don’t drown out a body of stellar performances.
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I thought it was obvious he was good when he was challenging for wins with MWR lmao. Dude was screwed out of as many wins as Kasey Kahne and Kyle Larson
 
I thought he was a good driver on a great team with an elite crew chief. But clearly he doesn't need Pearn, so I have to admit MTJ is even better than I had thought.

I always looked at the dramatic dropoff between Kurt Busch in '13 and Truex in '14 and judged him off of that, fair or unfair, but that probably speaks more to Kurt's ability than a slight against Truex.
 
Not a fan of the guy at all but I respect his talent and he gained a step when he won in a vastly falling behind DEI at Dover in 07. Hes a big time talent, and that was evident when he signed up with Furniture Row.
 
Snappy D said:
Not a fan of the guy at all but I respect his talent and he gained a step when he won in a vastly falling behind DEI at Dover in 07. Hes a big time talent, and that was evident when he signed up with Furniture Row.
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He got yappy, but he backs it up.

Never lost a step, just continues to be the consistent monster he is.
 
All 3 of Truex’s wins have come on tracks that will be in 3 different rounds of the chase. Phoenix is the championship race. As of now he’s the favorite for the title
 
2 Sweet said:
No thanks. Larson is just as talented, and younger. He also isn't an entitled prick
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How many times have you met him and what was he doing at the time to give you that opinion of him?
 
Nitro Dude said:
How many times have you met him and what was he doing at the time to give you that opinion of him?
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I haven't met him, so I'm well aware that my opinion means nothing and I could very well be way off base. See DF's thread if you want to know why I don't "like" him.

Just to clarify, my "entitled prick" comment was referring to Truex, not Larson. It's just the impression I get from him as an outsider looking in.
 
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Nitro Dude said:
How many times have you met him and what was he doing at the time to give you that opinion of him?
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Lmao come on dude. This is just as bad as “you havent seen the next gen car in person so dont criticize it.”

99% of sports fans havent personally met a single person in the organization they cheer or root for. That doesn’t mean they can’t for their opinions.
 
2 Sweet said:
I haven't met him, so I'm well aware that my opinion means nothing and I could very well be way off base. See DF's thread if you want to know why I don't "like" him.
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Just because you haven't met him doesn't mean your opinion doesn't mean anything. It is just from my experience I have seen many fans form an opinion about drivers based off of how well they were responded to when they tried to get an autograph or a picture when that driver was rally busy at the track. But timing is everything and would probably have been treated completely different any other time. Fans don't always use common sense at the track and can be pretty rude at times. I use to hate doing the clutch because my table was at the back of the car right next to the ropes and I would be super busy and trying to change out the clutch between rounds in a short period of time calculating a lot of numbers and fans would want me to stop my job and go get the driver from inside the hauler to come and sign something or take a picture with them. If I had time I would do it but a lot of the time I just didn't have the time. So even though I'm a nice guy a few probably thinks I'm and A-hole. I loved it when I moved to rebuilding the cylinder heads because my head tables were in front of the car where I was by myself in my own little area. I don't really need to know why you don't like him it's no skin off my azz.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Lmao come on dude. This is just as bad as “you havent seen the next gen car in person so dont criticize it.”

99% of sports fans havent personally met a single person in the organization they cheer or root for. That doesn’t mean they can’t for their opinions.
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How the fuc-k did you come to a conclusion from what I asked 2sweet that I was saying he couldn't form an opinion without meeting the driver?:rolleyes:
 
2 Sweet said:
I haven't met him, so I'm well aware that my opinion means nothing and I could very well be way off base. See DF's thread if you want to know why I don't "like" him.

Just to clarify, my "entitled prick" comment was referring to Truex, not Larson. It's just the impression I get from him as an outsider looking in.
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I put my glasses on and reread your original post and I had misread isn't. I thought you said is. My bad. :)
 
2 Sweet said:
I haven't met him, so I'm well aware that my opinion means nothing and I could very well be way off base. See DF's thread if you want to know why I don't "like" him.

Just to clarify, my "entitled prick" comment was referring to Truex, not Larson. It's just the impression I get from him as an outsider looking in.
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Well let me assure you, you are wrong. He's one of the good guys and thru all of his pitfalls in life he never buckled and his charity does amazing work for Children with cancer. Just because you hear a driver get mad on the radio doesnt mean a damn thing, hell Ive been cussed out more times then I can remember but it meant nothing after the race.
 
Spotter22 said:
Well let me assure you, you are wrong. He's one of the good guys and thru all of his pitfalls in life he never buckled and his charity does amazing work for Children with cancer. Just because you hear a driver get mad on the radio doesnt mean a damn thing, hell Ive been cussed out more times then I can remember but it meant nothing after the race.
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Which is why I said my opinion means nothing. It really isn't fair to judge people like that, but as fans we do it anyway.
 
Nitro Dude said:
How the fuc-k did you come to a conclusion from what I asked 2sweet that I was saying he couldn't form an opinion without meeting the driver?:rolleyes:
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I took your post to mean that unless he’s met him in person, he couldn’t actually think he knows what MTJ is like - ie a massive prick. If that wasn’t the intention, then that’s on me and I’ll take the flack for it.
 
2 Sweet said:
I thought he was a good driver on a great team with an elite crew chief. But clearly he doesn't need Pearn, so I have to admit MTJ is even better than I had thought.

I always looked at the dramatic dropoff between Kurt Busch in '13 and Truex in '14 and judged him off of that, fair or unfair, but that probably speaks more to Kurt's ability than a slight against Truex.
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Even though he had some poor luck back then I thought the same of his time at MWR when Bowyer was usually the higher performer on the team. He’s left no doubt the last few years though. Intermediates, short tracks, road courses, dominated the Truck dirt race at Bristol. He cleans up everywhere now.
 
DanicaFreak said:
high praise coming from someone who is obv slanted towards toyota
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I truly mean it. The dude scares the **** out of me every week. Even when MTJ was 10 seconds clear of P2, I was watching the 5. It will be that way all year.
 
A very good system driver who is able to execute with an elite team, very reliable, and gets everything out of the car, no more, no less. A champion, but a clear step below every single champion since 2001, and a few non-champion like Hamlin, Edwards, Mark Martin in the raw talent department, and I won't tolerate any challenge to that.

Other than that, he has had one of the most dominant 5-7 year stretches of the last 20 years. I would like to see him win with a car that isn't dominant before I feel comfortable admitting he's an elite talent.

Good enough to take advantage of a great situation, like Dale Jarrett. But the discrepancy in the 78 between he and Kurt, and then with Pearn, in a gen 6 car the most the field has bitched about being too easy to drive, I just can't give him that. Busch, Harvick, Elliot, Larson, Logano, Keselowski are all superior talents right now.

Is he elite in spite of that? If so, sure.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
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Revman said:
I truly mean it. The dude scares the **** out of me every week. Even when MTJ was 10 seconds clear of P2, I was watching the 5. It will be that way all year.
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I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Kyles wins the championship this year. Obviously I'm rooting for the #5 Kyle in that awesome looking blue and white Chevy. :D
 
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