The Truex family have a lot to celebrate this week. After a day’s delay for weather, and two days after his younger brother won, Martin Truex Jr. was in Victory Lane at Dover Motor Speedway Monday after holding off Ross Chastain in a 7-lap shootout to break a 54-race winless streak.
Saturday his younger brother Ryan scored his first career Xfinity win at Dover to cap off a dominating day winning by 4.8 seconds after leading 124 of 200 laps.
Monday it took a gusty call on a final round of pit stop that had Truex’s two tires racing Chastain’s four tires in the final laps that ended with Truex winning by .505 of a second.
“Man, it feels incredible,” Truex said. “It felt like we’ve been close a bunch of times, and we gave some away, that’s for sure.”
Truex led a total of 68 laps, the first of those coming on lap 332 when he cycled to the lead after a round of green flag stops.
The biggest threat for Truex came from Chastain who led 98 laps earlier in the day. With the laps winding down Chastain was able to close the gap but on lap 388, Joey Logano who had struggled all day and fallen several laps off the lead, spun out and hit the wall hard bringing out the races seventh caution.
On the ensuing pit stops, Truex crew chief James Small called for a two tire stop. Truex was out first followed by Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell, who also took two tires. Chastain was the first car to take 4 tires and came out 4th.
“Thought today, man, late caution, what’s going to happen here,” Truex said. “But just a great call by James to take two and then was able to get a pretty good restart and get Blaney there. He raced me hard but clean.”
On the restart with 7 to, Chastain charged forward making it to the second spot with five laps to go. Despite his best efforts however he came up short as Truex crossed the line.
Blaney was second, and William Byron who led a race high 193 laps and won Stage 1 recovered after losing the handle on his Chevy late in the going to finish fourth. Denny Hamlin was fifth.
Bell was sixth followed by Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Josh Berry subbing for Alex Bowman completing the top 10.
For much of the field Monday’s race was a story of the good, bad, and the ugly.
Kyle Busch, who was awarded the pole after qualifying was rained out Saturday suffered a pit road speeding penalty, then was caught up in an early crash and managed to only rally to 21st, three laps down.
Chastain won Stage 2 but didn’t make any friends. On lap 89 he was racing inside the top five with Kyle Larson. Chastain dove under the lap down car of Brennan Poole, got into him and sent Poole’s Ford spinning. The car shot back up the track and in front of the Chevy of Larson who slammed into the side of it.
After the race Chastain was more focused on the early incident than his second-place finish.
“I think whoever got in the lead was going to have a shot at it,” he said. “I first have to say I’m sorry to Brennan at everybody at Rick Ware’s team. I owe a big apology and a bit more. When I get home from Skip Barber tomorrow, I’ll head over there and talk to those guys and make some of that right.
Larson’s car had heavy damage and he later had to go to the garage for repairs. Larson finished 32nd, 41 laps down.
Last year’s Dover winner Chase Elliott finished a quiet 11th place.
After the win, and his brothers on Saturday, Dover will no doubt be a favorite in the Truex family going forward.
“This is a special place,” Truex said. “It was such a big day for our family to see Ryan do that on Saturday. He’s worked so hard for so long to get good opportunities, and it was awesome to see him take advantage of that.
“For us, we’ve given away a few here over the years, and it feels nice to get one to come around our way for once. So just excited, and this thing was a hotrod, just had to get it up front.”
NASCAR heads to Kansas Speedway next Sunday for the AdventHealth 400. Kurt Busch, who retired at the end of last season, was the defending winner.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Results Würth 400
Dover Motor Speedway
Dover, Delaware
Sunday, April 30, 2023
- (17) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 400.
- (14) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 400.
- (3) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
- (8) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
- (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
- (2) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.
- (7) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 400.
- (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
- (5) Chris Buescher, Ford, 400.
- (23) Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 400.
- (10) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.
- (28) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 400.
- (24) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 399.
- (27) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 399.
- (9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 399.
- (11) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 399.
- (30) Ryan Preece, Ford, 399.
- (29) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 399.
- (12) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 399.
- (31) Harrison Burton, Ford, 398.
- (1) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 397.
- (32) Michael McDowell, Ford, 397.
- (25) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 397.
- (19) Aric Almirola, Ford, 397.
- (35) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 396.
- (20) Austin Cindric, Ford, 396.
- (36) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 395.
- (21) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 393.
- (22) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 381.
- (6) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 378.
- (26) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 375.
- (18) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 359.
- (34) Brennan Poole(i), Ford, Accident, 79.
- (33) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, DVP, 43.
- (15) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 35.
- (16) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 115.505 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 27 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: .505 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 46 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Busch 1-22;C. Bell 23;B. Keselowski 24-26;W. Byron 27-85;D. Hamlin 86;K. Busch 87-89;W. Byron 90-123;D. Hamlin 124;W. Byron 125-193;R. Chastain 194;J. Berry(i) 195;B. Keselowski 196-200;R. Chastain 201-253;D. Hamlin 254;W. Byron 255-285;R. Chastain 286-329;J. Berry(i) 330-331;M. Truex Jr. 332-388;D. Hamlin 389;M. Truex Jr. 390-400.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 4 times for 193 laps; Ross Chastain 3 times for 98 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 68 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 25 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 8 laps; Denny Hamlin 4 times for 4 laps; Josh Berry(i) 2 times for 3 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,11,12,6,1,17,20,4,19,47
Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,24,12,19,11,54,17,45,9,20
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.