Truex Jr unstoppable at the ‘Monster Mile’

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates at the 'Monster Mile'

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates 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

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