Truex finally conquers Kansas Speedway
Driver pulls away Saturday night after two late restarts.
Joe Garone thought he’d seen Martin Truex Jr. lose in every conceivable way at Kansas Speedway, whether it was pit strategy or bad restarts or a bizarre problem during a late tire change that did in his chances of winning last season.
Then, he watched Erik Jones — the other car in their two-car Furniture Row Racing stable — go for a spin late in Saturday night’s race at Kansas City, Kan., forcing a restart after Truex had established a big lead. “I was like, ‘Here’s a new way to lose it,’ ” said Garone, the team’s president.
Only t h i s t i me, t h i n g s worked out. Truex roared away from Ryan Blaney and Ke v i n Ha r v i c k o n a l a t e rest ar t , then did it again when Jimmie Johnson spun out with two laps to go. And after so many fits at Kansas, Truex and Furniture Row Racing had finally found their way to victory lane.
The only time Truex finished outside the top 16 this season came at Talladega, when a late wreck ended his day. He joined Johnson and Brad Keselowski on Sunday as drivers with multiple wins this season.
Almirola injured: Aric Almirola was released from University of Kansas Medical Center on Sunday, a day after fracturing a vertebra in a wreck at Kansas Speedway. Almirola was trailing Joey Logano and Danica Patrick when a broken brake rotor on Logano’s car sent him and Patrick into the wall. Almirola had no time to check up and plowed into Logano’s car, the force of the impact lifting his car into the air and nearly flipping it over.
Richard Petty Motorsports said Sunday that Almirola was returning to his home in North Carolina to rest.
Formula One: Lewis Ham- ilton tightened the early title race in Formula One after beating Sebastian Vettel to win the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday in Montmelo. Hamilton saw his advantage of a pole position evaporate when Vettel beat him to the first corner, but Mercedes’ decision to have Hamilton finish the race on faster tires allowed the British driver to overtake Vettel’s Ferrari with more than 20 laps left. Hamilton’s second win in five races this season cut Vettel’s lead from 13 points to six.