TRUEX BACK IN VICTORY LANE AT PHOENIX
Joey Logano has won a few times at Phoenix Raceway and knows a good restart when he feels one. With 25 laps to go Sunday, he got a good run on the green flag, dipped down low on the dogleg and felt great. Then he realized Martin Truex Jr’s No. 19 Toyota was still right next to him. That was a big problem.
Truex blew past Logano on the final restart and pulled away for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and 28th overall. That set off a hearty celebration from his Joe Gibbs Racing team, especially after a frustrating 2020 season that included just one win.
“I’d say we were really hungry for it,” Truex said. “We really wanted it, obviously. We worked really hard, we’ve got a great team and it just seemed like for whatever reason, it was always little things biting us. We were always so close, always second or third.”
This time he was first. By a lot. Truex beat the four championship finalists from last year. He had failed to advance into the season-ending finale for the first time in four years and could only watch as Chase Elliott beat Logano, Denny
Hamlin and Brad Keselowski for the title at the desert oval. All four trailed Truex across the finish line Sunday.
Phoenix Raceway will again host the championship race in November.
“To come here and win this, I wish it was November,” Truex said. “Hopefully, we can come back in November and have a shot at the championship.”
The 40-year-old Truex struggled earlier this year, finishing 25th at Daytona. But he’s raced much better in recent
weeks, finishing third at Homestead and sixth at Las Vegas last week.
He was dominant during the final half Sunday and became just the second driver from last year’s 16-car playoff field to qualify for the postseason. It was good day for Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, which had the winner in Truex and Hamlin in the third spot.
Logano finished second. He said even if he was able to hold Truex on the restart, he probably would have passed him before the checkered flag.
“They just had a fast car,” Logano said.
Red Bull strong in testing
Having won the last race of the 2020 Formula One season, Red Bull showed it might be a strong challenger to Mercedes this year after leading the final day of pre-season testing on Sunday.
With the evening sun setting on Bahrain’s desert track in Sakhir, Max Verstappen topped the leaderboard after his new teammate Sergio Perez was fastest in the morning run. Verstappen, who won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a commanding drive last December, also topped Friday’s first testing day.
Todd wins Gatornationals
J.R. Todd beat Robert Hight in the Funny Car finale Sunday at the NHRA’s Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., crossing the finish line first after both drivers had trouble getting traction on a hot and slippery track. Hight was looking to give John Force Racing a dramatic return to the dragracing series after the team sat out most of last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.