Truex Jr. blows them away at Chicagoland

Martin Truex Jr. has continued his hot form of the regular NASCAR season through to the first race of the Playoffs with a dominant victory at Chicagoland.

Truex came back from a pit road speeding penalty and a loose wheel to drive his way back to the front and through to the lead and comfortable race win; the fifth of the season and second-straight at the track and 12th of his career.

Truex extended his points lead, but most importantly automatically advances to the next stage of the Playoffs.

“Do you know what time it is,” said Truex.

“This is unbelievable. This is what it’s all about.”

Chase Elliott is winless on the season, but a second -place finish and stage victory has him in a strong position to go deep into the Playoffs. Playoff-eligible drivers swept the top six spots, including Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson.

As good a day it was for Truex, the same can’t be said for the Busch brothers who both finished down the order and can’t afford another poor race if they are to fight for the title.

The race only had four caution periods and a loose wheel and pit road penalty, plus poor car balance saw Kyle Busch fall quickly off the pace. A loose wheel and pitlane penalty also inflicted Kurt Bush.

Other Playoffs contenders who had a poor day included Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who scraped the wall and had a pair of pit-road penalties; Jamie McMurray rallied back to finish 10th after a spin; Austin Dillon was also included on the list of drivers serving penalties for speeding on pit road.

Next weekend the series heads to New Hampshire with the end of the first leg of the Playoffs the following weekend at Dover International Speedway.

VIDEO: Race wrap

VIDEO: Truex Jr. speaks after the race

RESULTS: Tales of the Turtles 400 – Chicagoland Speedway

Cla	#	Driver	Make	Laps	Laps Led
1	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	267	77
2	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	267	42
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	267	59
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	267	1
5	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	267
6	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	267	1
7	22	Joey Logano	Ford	267
8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	267
9	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	267
10	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	267
11	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	267
12	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	267
13	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	266
14	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	266
15	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	266	85
16	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	266
17	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	266
18	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	265
19	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	265
20	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	265	2
21	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	264
22	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	264
23	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	264
24	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	264
25	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	263
26	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	263
27	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	263
28	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	262
29	38	David Ragan	Ford	262
30	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	262
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	261
32	15	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	259
33	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	259
34	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	258
35	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	257
36	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	256
37	83	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	255
38	55	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	254
39	66	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	254
40	51	Ray Black Jr.	Chevrolet	251

STANDINGS