NASCAR: It’s an emotional time for Truex after victory

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates his dominant season in calm reflection, and with purpose.

He drives on for himself and his team, of course, but there is an important passenger who is always with him, regardless of whether he feels her touch.

Sherry Pollex didn’t get to hug her fiance at Victory Lane on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway when Truex won his third NASCAR Cup race of the season, tying him for season-best with Jimmie Johnson.

Pollex was in a hospital, recovering from surgery for a recurrence of ovarian cancer. She tweeted from the hospital, where she was celebrating with family.

“Family selfie from my hospital room!!! Wahoo!!! GO MTJ!! #NeverGiveUp,” Pollex wrote.

Pollex, 38, was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer in August 2014 and had surgery that removed her ovaries, spleen, appendix, fallopian tubes and part of her stomach. After eight days in the hospital, she began weekly chemotherapy treatments.

“Thank you for all the well wishes. I’ll be back at the track soon,” Pollex tweeted after Saturday’s race.

Truex sent Sherry a shout-out after the race.

“I got to say hi to Sherry back home,” he said. “She didn’t make it this weekend, so, ‘I love you babe.’ And all these awesome fans, thank you guys so much for coming out. What an awesome crowd. I hope they enjoyed it and that was a whole lot of fun.”

Later, he elaborated on the circumstances.

“We found out a while ago about [the recurrence],” Truex said Saturday night in a TV interview. “She went in this weekend to have some surgery done. Everything went perfectly good, went as planned. I’m going to bring her home tomorrow. Excited to get home and see her, and everything is going great.”

By Sunday evening, Pollex posted a photo of Truex pushing her in a wheelchair as the couple was leaving the hospital.

Truex is having a career year, although that is hardly surprising. He finished fourth in the standings in 2015 and 11th last year, and seems prepped to make another Final Four championship run later in Homestead, Fla.

However, it all circles back to Pollex.

“Sherry is everything to me,” Truex said on TV. “We do everything together. She’s my best friend. I’m so proud of the person she is and what’s she been through and the inspiration she’s been to so many people, including myself.”

Larson is penalized

Truex ascended to the top of the driver standings Wednesday after Kyle Larson and his crew chief were suspended for failing a post-race inspection at Kentucky.

Larson’s team was penalized 35 points, erasing what had been a one-point advantage over Truex atop the standings. Larson is still 66 points ahead of third-place Kyle Busch.

Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet was penalized for a rear brake cooling assembly that did not meet standards. Crew chief Chad Johnston was suspended three races and fined $75,000. Chip Ganassi Racing said it will not appeal the penalty.

Aero issues

Brad Keselowski isn’t happy with his ride. Don’t blame his No. 2 Ford. It’s all about the system and the setup and the aerodynamic characteristics of the cars.

“The way this car is, it needs a lot more help than [working on track surfaces],” Keselowski said after wrecking at Kentucky in a two-car tangle with Johnson. “It’s a poorly designed car. At tracks like this, it’s very difficult to put on the show we want to put on for our fans.

“You do what you can to gouge and claw on the restarts to get everything you can. You have to put yourself in bad situations to do that, and that’s where we were. ... “It’s time for the sport to design a new car that is worthy of where this sport deserves to be, and for the show it deserves to put on for its fans.”

Keselowski made contact with Johnson on Lap 87 at Kentucky, bouncing into the wall and taking both cars out of the race. Keselowski took to social media to explain his frustration.

He definitely has allies. What say you, Mr. Johnson?

“There’s just an environment created with this style of racing that you’ve got to get everything you can on a restart,” Johnson said. “The old days of pointing someone by or maybe letting somebody go until your tires came in are long gone. All of this breeds a lot of cautions.”

Let’s see if all the noise from two of the best in the business breeds modifications to the cars next season.