Truex races to win at special track
JGR driver captures NASCAR race at Dover
DOVER, Del. – Martin Truex Jr.’s love affair with Dover International Speedway continued Monday in a race delayed one day by rain.
Truex drove away from the field in the Gander RV 400 for his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and his third at the Monster Mile.
Dover was the site of Truex’s first career win in the series, in June 2007, coincidentally the last time the track held a Cup race on a Monday. It was also a momentous day for the track, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“Two-for-two on Mondays,” Truex said. “I don’t know, maybe I need to figure out how to get Sunday races canceled.”
Truex’s connection to Dover goes beyond just his results in NASCAR’s premier series. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver spent his formative years racing on the 1-mile concrete oval and credited his success there for propelling his racing career.
“This track is a big part of the reason I got to where I’m at,” said Truex, 38. “Without tracks like this and Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) and Watkins Glen, I would have never have been noticed. I would have never had the opportunity to put myself in position in the spotlight with some of the higher-up drivers back in the day.
“I’ve been coming here a long time. I ran the Busch North Series here, ran the Busch (now Xfinity) Series here. The Busch North Series, especially, is really the reason that I got where I’m at. Racing on tracks like this in those cars is what prepared me to move up to the next level. So that’s what makes it special for me. It’s remembering where I came from. It’s a reminder of that, honestly, and for that reason, it makes it really special to win at tracks like this.”
Monday’s margin of victory — 9.3 seconds — will show the Joe Gibbs Racing driver cruising to an easy victory, but his path to the checkered flag was far from simple.
After his No. 19 Toyota failed prerace inspection on Saturday, Truex, who originally qualified 13th, was forced to start from the rear of the field. He spent the first stage deliberately working his way through traffic and entered the top 10 early in the second stage.
His move to the front came on the closing laps of the second segment when he battled Kevin Harvick for the second spot and then passed Alex Bowman on the final lap of the stage. Truex went on to lead the majority of the final segment, pulling away from Bowman and the rest of the top 10 as only 11 drivers finished on the lead lap.
Bowman, who earned his second consecutive runner-up finish after finishing behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott one week ago at Talladega Superspeedway, also rallied from the back of the pack after failing multiple inspections.
“We did a really good job resetting during the off week (following the race at Richmond Raceway and ahead of Talladega),” Bowman said. “We’ve come out strong since then.
“To come here to, in my opinion, the hardest racetrack we go to, run like that from the back of all things, was pretty special.”
Kyle Larson, who has struggled with bad luck all season, including a scary barrel roll on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway, broke through for his first top-three finish of 2019.
“It was good to finally have a clean race,” Larson said. “I don’t think we’ve had a clean weekend all year long.”
Harvick finished fourth, Elliott fifth, Erik Jones sixth, Joey Logano seventh, William Byron eighth and Clint Bowyer ninth.
Dover also marked a historic day for Kyle Busch, who finished 10th. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver tied a Cup Series record with his 11th consecutive top-10 finish from the start of the season. Morgan Shepherd set the record in 1990 while driving for Hall of Fame car owner Bud Moore.
Busch will have a chance to set the record when series moves to Kansas Speedway next weekend for a Saturday night race.