Drivers face first playoff elimination
DOVER, Del. - Martin Truex Jr. quipped after winning in August at Watkins Glen International that he was especially gratified to visit victory lane at one of his multitude of home tracks.
A New Jersey native who set the foundation for his eventual foray into NASCAR in under series around the Northeast, the 37-year-old is familiar with and fond of many of the venues he now plies in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
“It’s really only three or four: Watkins Glen, Pocono, New Hampshire and Dover,” Truex said, sheepishly, after finishing fifth Sunday in Loudon, N.H.
Dover International Speedway just happens to be next, and there are good memories and anticipation attached to that track, too.
Truex, then in his second full Cup season racing for now-defunct Dale Earnhardt Inc., got his first win at NASCAR’S highest level at the 1-mile concrete oval in 2007. He won there again last fall to claim two of three races in the first round of the 2016 playoffs — he was eliminated after the second round and finished 11th in points — and returns this weekend as the points leader and dominant force of the season as the first three-race segment of the 2017 postseason concludes.
Though Truex already is assured his entry into the next round by winning the opening race of the playoffs at Chicagoland Speedway, he welcomes Dover as a pushing off point into a round that devoured him last season.
And a note on Truex’s home tracks: whenever he retires, he very much covets the musket New Hampshire Motor Speedway officials presented his friend and hunting companion, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for his retirement last week.
Three other drivers from the 16-driver field — Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski — are also safely locked in the second round.
Four drivers will be eliminated Sunday as the first round comes to an end, leaving 12 to battle in the three-race second round before the next elimination, Oct. 22 at Kansas Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon are tied for 12th in points after the firsts two races, but Stenhouse holds the tiebreaker.