Truex Jr unstoppable at the ‘Monster Mile’

Martin Truex Jr. has scored his second race win in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with victory at Dover.

Truex, who also won the opening race of NASCAR’s version of the playoffs at Chicagoland, dominated the track known as the ‘Monster Mile’. The Toyota driver led 187 of the 400 laps, as the pace the front was so hot only six cars finished on the lead lap.

Despite being a single-car team based in Denver, the Furniture Row squad, which includes Australian race engineer Peter Craik, is considered as one of the hot favourites to take the title.

“We are not messing around I guess – what else can I say – we are here to get it done,” said Truex Jr.

“Especially here, I love this race track as it’s been considered a home track as I have won here before and also had plenty of heart break.

“What an awesome race today and we are ready to go to Charlotte (next week). The last month and half has been ridiculous, I mean it has been a fairy tale dream.

“Let’s keep this momentum going as the sky’s the limit for this team.

With the race being the first cut-off in the Chase the drivers not advancing are the Ganassi entries of Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, Chris Buescher and retiring legend Tony Stewart.

McMurray’s day ended with engine failure, while Larson battled electrical issues and a puncture. A 13th place finish for Stewart ending any hopes of a fairy-tale ending to his NASCAR career.

Kevin Harvick’s victory last week at New Hampshire was critical, as he suffered rear suspension failure in today’s race.

The next phase of the Chase with 12 drivers gets underway at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Last time out at that track Truex completely dominated the Coke 600 back in May.

 

VIDEO: race wrap

 

RESULTS: Citizen Solder 400 – Dover International Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	START	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	2	400	187	Running	45	5
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	3	400	102	Running	40	1
3	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	9	400	0	Running	38	0
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	1	400	7	Running	38	1
5	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	4	400	0	Running	36	0
6	22	Joey Logano	Ford	5	400	0	Running	35	0
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	8	399	90	Running	35	1
8	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	14	399	0	Running	33	0
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	7	399	0	Running	32	0
10	88	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	18	399	7	Running	32	1
11	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	22	399	0	Running	30	0
12	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	17	399	0	Running	29	0
13	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	15	399	0	Running	28	0
14	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	10	399	0	Running	27	0
15	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	11	398	0	Running	26	0
16	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	27	398	0	Running	25	0
17	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	19	397	0	Running	24	0
18	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	25	396	7	Running	24	1
19	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	21	396	0	Running	22	0
20	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	23	395	0	Running	21	0
21	44	Brian Scott	Ford	34	395	0	Running	20	0
22	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	26	395	0	Running	19	0
23	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	16	394	0	Running	18	0
24	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	28	394	0	Running	17	0
25	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	12	394	0	Running	16	0
26	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	29	394	0	Running	15	0
27	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	35	393	0	Running	14	0
28	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	24	393	0	Running	13	0
29	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	31	392	0	Running	12	0
30	23	David Ragan	Toyota	32	392	0	Running	11	0
31	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	33	391	0	Running	10	0
32	95	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	30	390	0	Running	0	0
33	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	37	387	0	Running	8	0
34	98	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	36	386	0	Running	0	0
35	55	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	39	385	0	Running	6	0
36	32	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Ford	38	384	0	Running	5	0
37	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	6	354	0	Running	4	0
38	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	20	281	0	Running	3	0
39	30	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	40	196	0	Engine	2	0
40	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	13	192	0	Engine	1	0

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Martin Truex Jr	3000	Leader	29	4	7	15	1
2	Kevin Harvick	3000	Leader	29	3	14	22	2
3	Kyle Busch	3000	Leader	29	4	13	19	5
4	Matt Kenseth	3000	Leader	29	2	6	14	4
5	Joey Logano	3000	Leader	29	1	11	20	3
6	Chase Elliott	3000	Leader	29	0	9	15	1
7	Brad Keselowski	3000	Leader	29	4	15	20	0
8	Kurt Busch	3000	Leader	29	1	7	18	2
9	Denny Hamlin	3000	Leader	29	3	10	17	3
10	Carl Edwards	3000	Leader	29	2	7	16	5
11	Jimmie Johnson	3000	Leader	29	2	7	12	4
12	Austin Dillon	3000	Leader	29	0	4	11	1
13	Tony Stewart	2074	–926	21	1	5	7	4
14	Kyle Larson	2073	–927	29	1	7	11	2
15	Jamie McMurray	2053	–947	29	0	1	9	2
16	Chris Buescher	2045	–955	29	1	2	2	4
17	Kasey Kahne	728	–2272	29	0	2	10	1
18	Ryan Newman	700	–2300	29	0	1	8	2
19	AJ Allmendinger	649	–2351	29	0	2	5	3
20	Ryan Blaney	645	–2355	29	0	3	8	2
21	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	637	–2363	29	0	3	5	3
22	Trevor Bayne	628	–2372	29	0	2	5	2
23	Danica Patrick	547	–2453	29	0	0	0	3
24	Greg Biffle	542	–2458	29	0	1	3	6
25	Paul Menard	535	–2465	29	0	0	2	5
26	Aric Almirola	513	–2487	29	0	0	0	5
27	Clint Bowyer	501	–2499	29	0	0	3	2
28	Casey Mears	466	–2534	29	0	0	0	0
29	Dale Earnhardt Jr	461	–2539	18	0	5	6	4
30	Landon Cassill	409	–2591	29	0	0	0	1
31	David Ragan	380	–2620	29	0	0	0	5
32	Regan Smith	360	–2640	28	0	1	2	5
33	Brian Scott	352	–2648	29	0	0	0	5
34	Michael McDowell	350	–2650	24	0	0	1	2
35	Matt DiBenedetto	300	–2700	29	0	0	1	9
36	Cole Whitt	254	–2746	24	0	0	0	5
37	Michael Annett	250	–2750	28	0	0	0	4
38	Jeff Gordon	183	–2817	7	0	0	1	0
39	Josh Wise	153	–2847	25	0	0	0	6
40	Reed Sorenson	151	–2849	21	0	0	0	4
41	Jeffrey Earnhardt	104	–2896	16	0	0	0	2
42	Brian Vickers	86	–2914	5	0	0	1	1
43	Bobby Labonte	51	–2949	3	0	0	0	0
44	David Gilliland	46	–2954	2	0	0	0	0
45	Michael Waltrip	42	–2958	2	0	0	0	0
46	Boris Said	17	–2983	1	0	0	0	0
47	Patrick Carpentier	11	–2989	2	0	0	0	0
48	Eddie MacDonald	5	–2995	1	0	0	0	0
49	Alex Kennedy	5	–2995	1	0	0	0	1
50	Robert Richardson	3	–2997	1	0	0	0	1
51	Alex Bowman	0	–3000	4	0	0	1	0
52	Ty Dillon	0	–3000	10	0	0	0	0
53	Dylan Lupton	0	–3000	2	0	0	0	0
54	Jeb Burton	0	–3000	2	0	0	0	0
55	Joey Gase	0	–3000	4	0	0	0	0
56	Ryan Ellis	0	–3000	3	0	0	0	0
57	Timmy Hill	0	–3000	1	0	0	0	0
58	Justin Allgaier	0	–3000	1	0	0	0	1
59	Cody Ware	0	–3000	0	0	0	0	0