Truex, JGR kings of road
Driver wins again at Sonoma; team dominates field
SONOMA, Calif. — Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch have managed to keep their longstanding rivalry quite friendly during their first season as teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing.
It’s a bit easier for Truex to be a gracious winner — and for Busch to be somewhat content with second place — when their two Toyotas are blowing away the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field by a full 31 seconds, as they did on a dominant Sunday in wine country.
Truex won on the hilly road course at Sonoma Raceway for the second straight year and the third time in his career, comfortably holding off Busch for JGR’s 10th victory of the season.
Truex won for the fourth time in the last eight points-paying races, earning his 23rd career victory overall. Busch also has four wins this season, putting the two veteran drivers in position for a long summer of friendly competition.
“We race as hard as we can possibly race on the racetrack, and we respect each other off it,” Truex said. “That works out pretty good.”
Although Busch
is a vicious competitor, he had perspective on this result after failing to find a way to make a late push past Truex. Their careers have intersected regularly since 2004, when Truex held off Busch to win the Busch Series championship.
“It (stinks) to finish second to a teammate, but it is good for the company,” said Busch, who has four top-five finishes in the last five years at Sonoma. “Overall, Martin is really good here. I’m just pumped that I actually ran good.”
Ryan Blaney was a distant third, more than 33 seconds behind Truex. Matt DiBenedetto finished a career-best fourth, and JGR’s Denny Hamlin was fifth. Erik Jones, JGR’s fourth driver, came in eighth. Series points leader Joey Logano had battery problems and had to pit with 15 laps to go. He finished 23rd.
Truex and Busch finished 1-2 for the seventh time in their careers, and they were the class of the final stage in a cautionfree race. While JGR isn’t overwhelming its foes in the points standings, it hopes to build on its strong Northern California performance into the summer.
“What a season we’ve turned this into,” said Truex, who has won with three different team owners at Sonoma. “This group, man, they’re unbelievable. Hopefully we can keep it going.”