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Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr believes veteran NASCAR Cup drivers are outperforming the younger generation because the cars are much more “sensitive” to drive.
This year’s pre-season media days were dominated by talk about NASCAR’s new talent breaking through, with Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott tipped to fill the void left behind by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
One-time Cup champion Kyle Busch criticised NASCAR’s promotion of young drivers as the series battles declining interest.
But the youngest winners in the first 12 races have been 27-year-old Joey Logano and Austin Dillon, who won the Daytona 500 at the age of 28.
Reigning series champion Truex said that Cup experience has been key to success in 2018.
“I think there is a lot of reasons [for younger drivers struggling],” said Truex. “[There are] experienced teams and experience behind the wheel.
“These cars aren’t driving very well. They change throughout the weekend quite a bit, [at] times when you need to really think about experience. In what ways is this track going to go?
“These cars are so sensitive to weather changes, pace changes and things like that.
“I think having that experience and not freaking out saying ‘OK, I have to be tight in this practice to be good in the race or I have to be loose here to be good in the race’. That’s the experience that’s hard to get.
“It’s hard to have that confidence when maybe you practice and you’re two or three tenths off because you’re fighting off a nail-handling car but if you try to fix it now, it’s going to hurt you later.
“Those are kind of times when experience really plays in your hands. Guys [drivers and crew chiefs] that are together over a period of time, building that history. That is something that we build week in and week out.
“It’s hard to go to tracks for the first time or second time, not only as a driver, but as a team and be really successful.
“I feel like you get better when you go back the third time or the fourth time or even fifth time. So gaining that history together is a part of the experience as well.”