It was the case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time for No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

The Michael Waltrip Racing Camry started in 18th place and climbed into the top five early in the Coke Zero 400 race, but Truex’s luck ran out when a piece of metal from Kyle Busch’s wrecked car damaged Truex’s splitter on lap 103.

Truex returned to the track in the back of the pack, but he couldn’t avoid a multi-car accident at about lap 116 that severely damaged the NAPA Toyota. David Ragan’s No. 6 Ford triggered the accident by turning sideways in turn three and slamming into Jamie McMurray, Truex and Kasey Kahne.

“I'm not quite sure what happened,” Truex said. “They all spun in front of me. I saw (Ragan) up in front of me, sideways. He was coming down the track. You just can't slow down. We had a good car. The NAPA Toyota was running really well. When Kyle wrecked, we hit some of his debris and pitted twice because we were afraid the splitter would drag.”

Truex returned to the track on lap 144 and managed to finish the race in 35th place.

“We have good cars, but we just can't catch any breaks,” Truex said. “It's a shame because the NAPA Know How crew is working hard. The NAPA Toyota was really good and we were running up in the top 10 most of the race.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, started the race in first place and ultimately won by holding off Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Truex’s finish puts him in 20th place in Sprint Cup Series driver points. He next travels to Chicagoland for Saturday’s LifeLock.com 400 race.

Photos courtesy of SPEED.

Labels: Coke Zero 400, David Ragan, Daytona International Speedway, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip Racing, NAPA Auto Parts, TireMonkey.com