Down play by making excuses? C'mon now. I stated exactly what happened. Those two things I mentioned no doubt helped Marvin walk away from Glen Helen with the healthy points lead he has now. He rode great, and there's a good chance he would have ended up the points leader (or tied for the points lead) even if Tomac hadn't had the bike issue. But it wouldn't be as big of a points lead as he has now.

Side note: the bad start comment wasn't as much of a "he would've lost to Tomac for sure if he didn't get a bad start" comment as it was a "he never had to think about Tomac because he was no where in sight for the entire race" comment. He matched or had better lap times than Tomac for the majority of the race. I will admit that I could have worded that bit better.