Truex outlasts teammate Hamlin to win again at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, VA. » Martin Truex Jr. admits to being surprised by his success at Martinsville Speedway.
Truex won a stirring, laps-long duel for the lead with teammate Denny Hamlin in the rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday night, winning for the third time in the last four stops at the 0.526-mile oval — the oldest and shortestintheseries.
“This place has become a playground for us I guess,” Truex said in Victory Lane. “We didn’t have the best car all day, but we just kept working on it and never quit on it.”
Truex, who nudged Hamlin repeatedly in the turns and tried to get to his inside on the straightaways without success, finally made the pass with 15 laps to go, ducking underneath Hamlin coming out of the second turn. He sailed off to victory without another challenge as Hamlin and Chase Elliott battled the rest of the way for second.
Truex became the first repeat winner in NASCAR’s top series this season.
The race was rained out after 42 laps Saturday night, and was completed as the second part of a doubleheader that started with the completion of the raindelayed Xfinity Series race from Friday night.
Elliott, who won here last fall on his way to winning the series championship, held off Hamlin for second. Hamlin was third, followed by William Byron and Kyle Larson.
“That was a lot of fun there at the end, racing with Denny,” Truex said about his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. “We raced clean and we were able to come out on top.”
The Gibbs team had all four of its drivers finish in the top 10 as Christopher Bell took seventh and Kyle Busch 10th, leaving team owner Joe Gibbs excited, and relieved.
“I was just praying that Denny and Martin didn’t get together running up front,” Gibbs said.
The outcome was not only disappointing for Hamlin, who had a dominant car and led 276 laps, but also for Ryan Blaney, who won the firsttwostagesandled157 laps but dragged an air gun out of his pit after the final stop and was sent back to 19th in the field.
BERRY WINS XFINITY RACE » Josh Berry passed Ty Gibbs with 28 laps to go and pulled away for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in a rain-delayed race at Martinsville Speedway.
Berry gave himself enough cushion after getting by Gibbs to withstand challenges by Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric, who ran out of time trying to navigate lapped traffic.
Berry, making just his 13th career start spread over five seasons and eight years, became the second driver to gain his first win on the 0.526-mile oval, joining Brett Bodine (1985). Berry’s best prior finish was seventh earlier this year at Las Vegas.
MLB
STROMAN ANGRY OVER RAINOUT » New Mets owner, same old dysfunction.
Marcus Stroman criticized New York for starting Sunday’s game against the Miami Marlins in a steady rain. Stroman’s outing lasted just nine pitches be
fore play was stopped, and the game was suspended after a wait of 2 hours, 10 minutes, to be continued as part of a day-night doubleheader onAug.31.
“This game should have never been started. Not smart at all,” Stroman tweeted during the delay. “Those conditions put everyone at risk. Beyond happy no players on either side were injured. Hate that I have to wait another 5 days to pitch again. That’s a miserable feeling.”
The Mets, known for confusion at times under the Wilpon and Katz families, were bought during the offseason by hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen, who brought back Sandy Alderson as team president.
Tennis
SONEGO FIGHTS BACK TO BEAT DJERE IN SARDEGNA OPEN FINAL » Lorenzo Sonego became the first Italian for 15 years to capture an ATP tour clay-court title on home soil after fighting back to beat Laslo Djere of Serbia and win the Sardegna Open.
Third-seeded Sonego had to dig deep in the second set before prevailing 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a final lasting just over three hours.
“The match was long and I remained calm in the second-set tiebreaker,” Sonego said. “I knew the match wasn’t finished because I had always kept fighting. GOFFIN AND THOMPSON REACH 2ND ROUND AT
MONTE CARLO MASTERS » David Goffin beat an erratic Marin Cilic 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 to reach the second round of the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday.
Although the 2014 U.S. Open champion Cilic had 10 aces and led the match 3-0,hemade52unforcederrors and also dropped serve six times against the 11thseeded Belgian.
It was the ninth meeting between them. Goffin leads 5-4.
Soccer
WEST HAM 3, LEICESTER 2 » Jesse Lingard took his goal tally to eight in nine appearances since joining West Ham on loan from Manchester United by netting twice in a victory over Leicester.
The win allowed West Ham to dislodge Chelsea and move back into fourth place in the Premier League in pursuit of Champions League qualification for the first time.
MANCHESTER UNITED 3, TOTTENHAM 1 » Edinson Cavani set up Fred’s equalizer before scoring with a diving header as Manchester United beat Tottenham, strengthening its grip on second place in the Premier League and dealing a further blow to former manager Jose Mourinho’s Champions League qualification hopes.
ARSENAL 3, SHEFFIELD UNITED 0 » Arsenal eased to a win at Bramall Lane as Sheffield United’s relegation from the Premier League edged ever closer.
A wonderful team goal scored by Alexandre Lacazette gave the visitors the halftime lead before Gabriel Martinelli marked his recall with a goal in the 71st. Lacazette struck again late on for his 50th league goal for the Gunners.
NEWCASTLE 2, BURNLEY 1 » Allan Saint-Maximin came off the bench to inspire Newcastle to a victory at Burnley that lifted the team six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.