Martin Truex, Jr. celebrates in victory lane after winning Monday’s rain delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway. Photo: James Gilbert/Getty Images
You could say NASCAR’s stop at Dover Motor Speedway was a kin-to-win kind of weekend.
Martin Truex, Jr. answered his younger brother Ryan’s NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on Saturday with a win in Monday’s rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race – the fourth win of his career at the one-mile oval he considers his “home track.”
Truex, who started 17th in the 36-car field after qualifying was cancelled due to weather, methodically worked his way forward in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The 42-year-old New Jersey native finally took the lead for the first time with 69 laps remaining and led all but one of those final laps to claim his first points-paying victory of the season, ending a 54-race winless streak.
He and his JGR pit crew ultimately had to earn the win with pit strategy and pit execution. On a pit stop during the race’s final caution period, Truex’s team opted to put only right-side tires on his Toyota. With the quick stop, he was able to beat the field back out to the track and then on the ensuing re-start – with seven laps to go – hold off a hard-charging Ross Chastain, who had taken four fresh tires on the stop.
“It feels incredible,” Truex said. “I feel like we’ve been close a bunch of times, that’s for sure. Felt today, with that caution, what’s going to happen here and then good call by (crew chief) James (Small) to take two (tires) and then I was able to get a pretty good re-start.
“Just thanks to everybody that stuck with me. … we knew we could do this. We’ve shown we can lead laps and have dominated races and it just never all came together. I’ve said we just had to keep doing what we were doing and not overthink it.”
Chastain, who took his fourth stage win of the season, finished a slight .505-seconds behind Truex but was unable to make up any real ground on the leader in the closing laps after passing Ryan Blaney, who also took only two tires on that final stop.
“Gosh, so close again,” said Chastain, who led 98 laps. “It’s surreal to continue to race against my all-time heroes.”
The race was not without incident for Chastain, who made contact with the car of Brennan Poole on lap 82 in turn 1, with Kyle Larson being caught up in the aftermath.
“First, I want to say so sorry to Brennan Poole and everybody at Rick Ware Racing,” Chastain said after the race. “I owe them a big apology and a bit more. I’ll head over there tomorrow and talk to those guys, and make some of that right.”
Blaney finished third – his sixth top 10 of the season and second top 3 in the last two races. William Byron led a race best 193 laps and won a series best sixth stage, to finish fourth. It marks the second time he’s led the most laps in a race this year but not claimed the victory.
“Either two or we’re staying out was the call, and we came in and took two,” Blaney said. “It got us on the front row. I think if we had taken four, we would have lined-up fourth. So, it really wouldn’t have been much different. But, being on the front row gave us a shot to win.”
Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell finished fifth and sixth.
Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Josh Berry rounded out the top 10. Berry was driving the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Alex Bowman, who suffered a back injury racing sprint cars last Tuesday.
It marks Truex’s 32nd career win and first since a victory at Richmond on September 11, 2021. Snapping the streak and sharing Dover’s victory lane with his younger brother, Ryan, truly made the week for the veteran.
“It’s just special, you know,” Truex said. “This is a special place. Good day for my family and to see Ryan win Saturday he’s worked so hard for so long to get good opportunities and it’s awesome.
“And then for us, we’ve given away a few here over the years so it’s nice to see it come around our way. Just excited and had a hot rod. Just needed to get it out front.”
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott was not a part of the fight for the win all day, rolling home to an 11th place finish.
NASCAR Cup Series
Dover Motor Speedway – Dover, DE
Würth 400 – April 30, 2023
1. (17) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 400.
2. (14) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 400.
3. (3) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
4. (8) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
5. (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
6. (2) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.
7. (7) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 400.
8. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
9. (5) Chris Buescher, Ford, 400.
10. (23) Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 400.
11. (10) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.
12. (28) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 400.
13. (24) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 399.
14. (27) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 399.
15. (9) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 399.
16. (11) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 399.
17. (30) Ryan Preece, Ford, 399.
18. (29) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 399.
19. (12) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 399.
20. (31) Harrison Burton, Ford, 398.
21. (1) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 397.
22. (32) Michael McDowell, Ford, 397.
23. (25) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 397.
24. (19) Aric Almirola, Ford, 397.
25. (35) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 396.
26. (20) Austin Cindric, Ford, 396.
27. (36) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 395.
28. (21) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 393.
29. (22) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 381.
30. (6) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 378.
31. (26) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 375.
32. (18) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 359.
33. (34) Brennan Poole(i), Ford, Accident, 79.
34. (33) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, DVP, 43.
35. (15) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 35.
36. (16) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 115.505 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 27 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: .505 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 46 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Busch 1-22;C. Bell 23;B. Keselowski 24-26;W. Byron 27-85;D. Hamlin 86;K. Busch 87-89;W. Byron 90-123;D. Hamlin 124;W. Byron 125-193;R. Chastain 194;J. Berry(i) 195;B. Keselowski 196-200;R. Chastain 201-253;D. Hamlin 254;W. Byron 255-285;R. Chastain 286-329;J. Berry(i) 330-331;M. Truex Jr. 332-388;D. Hamlin 389;M. Truex Jr. 390-400.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) William Byron 4 times for 193 laps; Ross Chastain 3 times for 98 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 68 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 25 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 8 laps; Denny Hamlin 4 times for 4 laps; Josh Berry(i) 2 times for 3 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,11,12,6,1,17,20,4,19,47
Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,24,12,19,11,54,17,45,9,20
Playoff Standings: 1. Kyle Busch – 306 (2 Wins); 2. Kyle Larson – 300 (2 Wins); 3. William Byron – 297 (2 Wins); 4. Christopher Bell – 367 (1 Win); 5. Martin Truex, Jr. – 330 (1 Win); 6. Tyler Reddick – 319 (1 Win); 7. Joey Logano – 274 (1 Win); 8. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 270 (1 Win); 9. Ross Chastain – 370; 10. Kevin Harvick – 332; 11. Ryan Blaney – 326; 12. Denny Hamlin – 317; 13. Brad Keselowski – 303; 14. Chris Buescher – 277; 15. Alex Bowman – 270; 16. Chase Briscoe – 250.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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