Joe Gibbs Toyota ace Truex wins NASCAR Dover race from back of grid
Martin Truex Jr stormed from the back of the NASCAR Cup Series field to take his second victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing in the rescheduled Dover race
Truex had been sent to the back after his Toyota machine failed pre-race inspection prior to Sunday's abandoned race.
The 2017 champion made up 16 places in the first 20 laps and was running in 17th position when the competition caution flew on lap 40 of 400.
The #19 then rose to 10th place by the end of stage one, (won by reigning Cup champion Joey Logano) and was able to begin to challenge the leading gaggle of Logano, polesitter Chase Elliott and fellow back-row starter, Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports.
Bowman moved past Elliott into the lead with just 15 laps in stage two remaining and looked set to take his maiden Cup Series stage victory before a mistake on the final lap in traffic allowed Truex to nip through and take the segment victory.
After winning the race off pitroad at the beginning of the final stage, Truex was not headed thereafter, except for in the pitstop cycle around mid-way through the 160-lapper.
He pulled away from Bowman to take victory by 9.5s, having led 132 laps, the second-highest of the race behind Elliott's 146.
Bowman took second place for the second consecutive race, finishing as the lead Chevrolet runner, just ahead of Chip Ganassi's Kyle Larson.
Kevin Harvick led a solitary lap for Stewart-Haas, coming home in fourth as the highest-placed Ford.
Elliott, who started from a sixth career pole, dominated the opening stage of the race but was undone by a caution on lap 105 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr hit the wall in his Roush-Fenway Racing Ford.
Logano and William Bryon each took only two tyres at the resulting stops, enough to jump ahead of Elliott, who suffered from a slow stop.
Elliott was then unable to challenge at the front, finishing sixth, 17s behind winner Truex.
Erik Jones ran strongly for JGR, and took seventh, ahead of Logano, Byron and Clint Bowyer.
Kyle Busch maintained his record of finishing every Cup race this season inside the top 10, by finishing 10th for JGR, equalling the all-time series record in the process.
Race result
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 400 | 3h08m37.s |
2 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 400 | 9.501s |
3 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 400 | 13.046s |
4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 13.313s |
5 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 400 | 17.065s |
6 | Erik Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 400 | 17.582s |
7 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 400 | 21.936s |
8 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 400 | 22.311s |
9 | Clint Bowyer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 22.748s |
10 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 400 | 23.332s |
11 | Daniel Suarez | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 400 | 24.054s |
12 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 399 | 1 Lap |
13 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 399 | 1 Lap |
14 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 399 | 1 Lap |
15 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 399 | 1 Lap |
16 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 399 | 1 Lap |
17 | Paul Menard | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 399 | 1 Lap |
18 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 398 | 2 Laps |
19 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 398 | 2 Laps |
20 | Matt DiBenedetto | Leavine Family Racing | Toyota | 398 | 2 Laps |
21 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 397 | 3 Laps |
22 | Ty Dillon | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 397 | 3 Laps |
23 | Chris Buescher | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 397 | 3 Laps |
24 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 395 | 5 Laps |
25 | Daniel Hemric | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 394 | 6 Laps |
26 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 393 | 7 Laps |
27 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 393 | 7 Laps |
28 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 392 | 8 Laps |
29 | Corey LaJoie | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 392 | 8 Laps |
30 | Ross Chastain | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 389 | 11 Laps |
31 | Landon Cassill | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 389 | 11 Laps |
32 | Matt Tifft | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 387 | 13 Laps |
33 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 386 | 14 Laps |
34 | Cody Ware | Petty Ware Racing | Ford | 383 | 17 Laps |
35 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 356 | Engine |
36 | Quin Houff | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 168 | Too slow |
37 | B.J. McLeod | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 96 | Engine |
Drivers' standings
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Kyle Busch | 460 |
2 | Joey Logano | 455 |
3 | Kevin Harvick | 397 |
4 | Denny Hamlin | 383 |
5 | Martin Truex Jr. | 378 |
6 | Brad Keselowski | 377 |
7 | Chase Elliott | 371 |
8 | Kurt Busch | 347 |
9 | Ryan Blaney | 335 |
10 | Clint Bowyer | 319 |
11 | Aric Almirola | 309 |
12 | Daniel Suarez | 292 |
13 | Alex Bowman | 287 |
14 | Ryan Newman | 270 |
15 | Kyle Larson | 267 |
16 | Erik Jones | 264 |
17 | Jimmie Johnson | 261 |
18 | Austin Dillon | 261 |
19 | William Byron | 260 |
20 | Paul Menard | 254 |
21 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 227 |
22 | Ty Dillon | 217 |
23 | Chris Buescher | 188 |
24 | Ryan Preece | 169 |
25 | Matt DiBenedetto | 166 |
26 | Daniel Hemric | 144 |
27 | David Ragan | 134 |
28 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | 121 |
29 | Corey LaJoie | 115 |
30 | Michael McDowell | 108 |
31 | Matt Tifft | 86 |
32 | Reed Sorenson | 28 |
33 | Jamie McMurray | 19 |
34 | Quin Houff | 16 |
35 | Stanton Barrett | 2 |
36 | Casey Mears | 1 |
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