Truex survives overtime to win in Charlotte

Martin Truex Jr. pic: NASCAR

Martin Truex Jr. has taken his second win of the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs as the Round of 12 got underway at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Truex faced two late-race restarts as the Bank of America 500 went into an overtime finish but held his nerve to secure a place in the Round of 8 and an extended championship lead.

The #78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota driver lead a total 91 laps, taking the lead for the final time in the round of pit stops which took place with just under 60 laps to go after Kyle Busch spun and brought out the yellows.

Truex led Kevin Harvick through the next stint of the race, following the Lap 284 restart, while Chase Elliott moved up from sixth to third.

Kyle Busch brought out another Caution when he hit the wall at Turn 2 with nine laps remaining, wiping out what had become a 1.5s lead for Truex.

He held the lead out of the pits while Denny Hamlin moved up from sixth to second and Elliott was a net neutral in third.

The race restarted on Lap 331 and Truex quickly gapped Hamlin before Kurt Busch brought out the 10th and final Caution when he made contact with Kyle Larson and spun.

However, Truex stayed in front at the Lap 336 restart, two laps beyond the scheduled distance, to lead the field home.

Elliott moved up to second and Harvick third, followed by Hamlin and Jamie McMurray, meaning that post-season drivers locked out the top five.

Harvick won both of the first two stages.

The series moves to the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday 16 October (AEDT).

VIDEO: Race highlights

VIDEO: Truex in Victory Lane

Results: Bank of America 500, Charlotte Motor Speedway

Pos Num Driver Make Laps Laps led Status Pts
1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 337 91 Running 47
2 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 337 12 Running 53
3 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 337 149 Running 54
4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 337 45 Running 43
5 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 337 4 Running 41
6 19 Daniel Suarez Toyota 337 0 Running 33
7 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 337 0 Running 34
8 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 337 0 Running 31
9 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 337 2 Running 28
10 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 337 12 Running 38
11 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 337 0 Running 38
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 337 0 Running 25
13 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 337 0 Running 24
14 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 337 0 Running 23
15 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 337 0 Running 22
16 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 337 0 Running 21
17 77 Erik Jones Toyota 337 0 Running 20
18 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 337 0 Running 19
19 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 337 0 Running 18
20 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 337 0 Running 17
21 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 337 0 Running 16
22 41 Kurt Busch Ford 337 0 Running 24
23 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 337 0 Running 14
24 43 Aric Almirola Ford 337 0 Running 13
25 34 Landon Cassill Ford 336 0 Running 12
26 22 Joey Logano Ford 335 0 Running 11
27 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 335 0 Running 10
28 23 Corey LaJoie Toyota 333 0 Running 9
29 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 331 22 Running 14
30 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 330 0 Running 7
31 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 330 0 Running 6
32 51 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 326 0 Running 0
33 66 Timmy Hill Chevrolet 326 0 Running 0
34 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 295 0 Running 3
35 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 293 0 Running 2
36 55 Gray Gaulding Toyota 267 0 Running 1
37 38 David Ragan Ford 263 0 Crash 1
38 10 Danica Patrick Ford 263 0 Crash 1
39 83 Brett Moffitt Toyota 89 0 Crash 0
40 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 43 0 Crash 1

Standings

Pos Driver Pts Gap Wins Starts Top 5s Top 10s Poles
1 Martin Truex Jr. 3106 6 30 14 21 2
2 Kyle Larson 3072 -34 4 30 14 19 3
3 Kevin Harvick 3069 -37 1 30 10 18 4
4 Chase Elliott 3059 -47 0 30 9 17 1
5 Denny Hamlin 3056 -50 2 30 13 17 1
6 Kyle Busch 3055 -51 4 30 12 18 8
7 Jimmie Johnson 3051 -55 3 30 4 11 0
8 Jamie McMurray 3044 -62 0 30 3 16 0
9 Matt Kenseth 3043 -63 0 30 8 14 2
10 Brad Keselowski 3042 -64 2 30 12 17 2
11 Ryan Blaney 3039 -67 1 30 3 11 1
12 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 3034 -72 2 30 4 7 1
13 Austin Dillon 2086 -1020 1 30 3 4 0
14 Kasey Kahne 2074 -1032 1 30 3 5 0
15 Kurt Busch 2068 -1038 1 30 5 13 0
16 Ryan Newman 2068 -1038 1 30 6 11 0
17 Clint Bowyer 760 -2346 0 30 5 12 0
18 Joey Logano 752 -2354 1 30 9 14 1
19 Erik Jones 748 -2358 0 30 4 12 1
20 Daniel Suarez 686 -2420 0 30 1 12 0
21 Trevor Bayne 548 -2558 0 30 1 4 0
22 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 541 -2565 0 30 1 5 1
23 Paul Menard 507 -2599 0 30 2 3 0
24 Ty Dillon 489 -2617 0 30 0 0 0
25 Chris Buescher 464 -2642 0 30 0 3 0
26 A.J. Allmendinger 452 -2654 0 30 1 5 0
27 Michael McDowell 450 -2656 0 30 1 1 0
28 Danica Patrick 441 -2665 0 30 0 1 0
29 David Ragan 360 -2746 0 30 0 2 0
30 Aric Almirola 354 -2752 0 23 2 3 0
31 Matt DiBenedetto 312 -2794 0 30 0 2 0
32 Landon Cassill 307 -2799 0 30 0 0 0
33 Cole Whitt 276 -2830 0 30 0 0 0
34 Corey LaJoie 202 -2904 0 27 0 0 0
35 Reed Sorenson 125 -2981 0 24 0 0 0
36 Gray Gaulding 120 -2986 0 23 0 0 0
37 Jeffrey Earnhardt 115 -2991 0 28 0 0 0
38 Derrike Cope 36 -3070 0 13 0 0 0
39 Michael Waltrip 29 -3077 0 1 0 1 0
40 Billy Johnson 15 -3091 0 1 0 0 0
41 Boris Said 15 -3091 0 2 0 0 0
42 Gary Klutt 6 -3100 0 1 0 0 0
43 Cody Ware 6 -3100 0 5 0 0 0
44 Alon Day 5 -3101 0 1 0 0 0
45 Stephen Leicht 5 -3101 0 1 0 0 0
46 Kevin O’Connell 4 -3102 0 1 0 0 0
47 Tommy Regan 3 -3103 0 1 0 0 0
48 D.J. Kennington 2 -3104 0 2 0 0 0
49 Timmy Hill 0 -3106 0 15 0 0 0
50 B.J. McLeod 0 -3106 0 7 0 0 0
51 Brett Moffitt 0 -3106 0 6 0 0 0
52 Joey Gase 0 -3106 0 5 0 0 0
53 Ryan Sieg 0 -3106 0 5 0 0 0
54 Darrell Wallace Jr. 0 -3106 0 4 0 0 0
55 J.J. Yeley 0 -3106 0 4 0 0 0
56 Brendan Gaughan 0 -3106 0 3 0 1 0
57 Elliott Sadler 0 -3106 0 3 0 0 0
58 Regan Smith 0 -3106 0 2 0 0 0
59 Ross Chastain 0 -3106 0 2 0 0 0
60 Carl Long 0 -3106 0 2 0 0 0
61 Josh Bilicki 0 -3106 0 2 0 0 0
62 Ray Black Jr. 0 -3106 0 1 0 0 0

Join the discussion below in the Speedcafe.com comments section

Please note: Speedcafe.com reserves the right to remove any comment that does not follow the comment policy. For support, contact [email protected]