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Martin Truex Jr. is by far having the best year of his career. Entering Sunday’s race at the Monster Mile, Truex had three victories to his credit. In May, Truex dominated the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in early September, the No. 78 Toyota went to victory lane at Darlington in the famous Southern 500, and he started off The Chase with a bang winning at Chicagoland securing a spot in the second round of the playoffs.
Martin Truex Jr. won his very first Sprint Cup Series race at the one mile concrete oval way back in 2007 driving for the extinct Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. But since winning in ’07, Truex hadn’t found the winner circle at Dover. He came extremely close in the spring where he led a number of laps before getting caught up in a massive crash that washed away his chances at the win. Truex, who is from New Jersey, considers Dover to be his home race, so it’s a safe bet that winning here means the world to him, his girlfriend, and the rest of his family and friends.
In Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400, Truex had another dominating performance of 2016 leading 187 of the 400 laps en route to his second victory at his favorite track, Dover International Speedway. With Sunday’s emotional victory, Truex and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team have tallied four wins on the season and two victories in the last three events. A remarkable year for the New Jersey native who in his first eight seasons in the Sprint Cup Series won just three races. Now in 2016, Truex has more than doubled that number. Truex certainly has to be the championship favorite as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Charlotte next weekend.
Below are highlights and turn by turn action from the “Citizen Soldier 400” at Dover International Speedway. Race recapped by Last Lap Insider.
Pre Race – Because qualifying was rained out on Friday, the field was set up by points putting Brad Keselowski on the pole with Martin Truex Jr. on the outside pole.
Lap 1/400 – The first elimination race of The Chase is underway at Dover International Speedway. Brad Keselowski gets a great launch off the line and pulls away from Martin Truex Jr. entering turn 1.
Lap 6/400 – Martin Truex Jr. easily passes the No. 2 of Brad Keselowski for the top spot.
Lap 12/400 – Kyle Busch passes BradKeselowski for 2nd just 6 laps from losing the lead to the No. 78.
Lap 23/400 – Kyle Busch sails by Martin Truex Jr. on the outside of turn 2 to take the lead. Kevin Harvick, last years Dover Chase winner, has now taken 3rd away from Brad Keselowski.
Lap 35/400 – It’s a good thing Kevin Harvick won last weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Harvick has taken his car to the garage with a broken track bar. The No. 4 Chevrolet was running 3rd.
During pit stops, Kyle Larson was complaining he had lost power so his team was trying to change their battery when Larson suddenly regained power. Larson, who is in danger of being eliminated, is now 1 lap down.
Lap 44/400 – Now, Larson has to serve a pass-through penalty for having too many men over the wall during his pit stop. He has now fallen 3 laps down.
Lap 75/400 – The top 15 – Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, and Tony Stewart.
Kyle Larson is currently 39th, 3 laps down. Harvick is still in the garage.
Lap 102/400 – The second caution has come out for rookie Ryan Blaney blowing a tire off turn 2 and slamming the outside wall. All leaders pit with the No. 18 off pit lane first.
Lap 130/400 – Martin Truex Jr. retakes the lead away from the Rowdy Busch.
A few laps later, Jimmie Johnson passes the No. 18 for 2nd.
As of right now, Austin Dillon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher will be eliminated from The Chase.
Lap 168/400 – Unfortunately, Jamie McMurray’s engine has dropped a cylinder. As they run, both Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolets will be eliminated from The Chase. Kyle Larson is still 3 laps down in the 30th position.
Lap 182/400 – Although Kyle Larson was running 30th, 3 laps down, he was still one of the fastest cars on the track. Larson and his Chip Ganassi team were hoping for a few cautions in order for them to get a few free passes. Unfortunately, Larson has now blown a tire and has smacked the wall. Heavy damage to the No. 42. This is the third caution of the day handing Greg Biffle the lucky dog.
Lap 190/400 – Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson make contact on the restart entering turn 1. New leader, the No. 48.
Lap 195/400 – Jamie McMurray blows an engine and will not move on to the next round of The Chase. This brings out the fourth caution.
Lap 210/400 – As of right now, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, and Chris Buescher will be eliminated. Austin Dillon has a 8-point cushion over Stewart.
Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski continue to be the top 3.
Lap 253/400 – The top 20 – Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, and AJ Allmendinger. Kyle Larson is 29th, 5 laps down.
Lap 281/400 – During green-flag pit stops, leader Jimmie Johnson has to come back to pit road for a pass-through penalty because his crew was over the wall too soon. Johnson was leading the race at Chicagoland two weeks ago when he got a speeding penalty on pit road costing him the race. Here we go again.
Martin Truex Jr. is the new leader.
80 laps to go – Martin Truex Jr. has just lapped Denny Hamlin who is 9th. Truex is setting a blistering pace on this long green flag stint.
30 laps to go – With another round of green flag pit stops complete, Martin Truex Jr. will cycle out to be the leader once Jeff Gordon pits. David Ragan gets caught for speeding on pit road and will serve a pass through penalty.
10 laps to go – Martin Truex Jr continues to dominate. Unless there is a caution, this will be another win for Furniture Row Racing.
Last Lap – Martin Truex Jr. wins the Citizen Soldier 400 at the Monster Mile. His fourth win of 2016.
His Toyota teammate Kyle Busch finishes 2nd with the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott finishing strong in 3rd.
Full Race Results:
1. Martin Truex Jr – LLI Pick To Win 1 – CD
2. Kyle Busch – CD
3. Chase Elliott – CD.
4. Brad Keselowski – LLI Pick To Win 2 – CD
5. Matt Kenseth – CD.
6. Joey Logano – CD
7. Jimmie Johnson – CD
8. Austin Dillon – CD
9. Denny Hamlin – CD
10. Jeff Gordon – In the No. 88
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
12. Kasey Kahne
13. Tony Stewart – CD
14. Carl Edwards – CD
15. Kurt Busch – CD
16. Aric Almirola
17. Ryan Newman
18. Greg Biffle
19. AJ Allmendinger
20. Trevor Bayne
21. Brian Scott
22. Paul Menard
23. Chris Buescher – CD
24. Clint Bowyer
25. Kyle Larson – 2 laps down – CD
26. Casey Mears
27. Matt Dibenedetto
28. Danica Patrick
29. Landon Cassill
30. David Ragan
31. Regan Smith
32. Ty Dillon
33. Michael Annett
34. Timmy Hill
35. Reed Sorenson
36. Jeffrey Earnhardt
37. Kevin Harvick – Broken track bar – CD
38. Ryan Blaney – Blown tire.
39. Josh Wise
40. Jamie McMurray – Blown engine – CD
CD = Chase Drivers.
CHASE GRID: Well, round one of The Chase for the championship is in the books. Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick automatically move on to the next round with their victories.
Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, and Austin Dillon move on to the round of 12. Unfortunately in his final season in Sprint Cup Series competition, Tony Stewart has been eliminated from The Chase. Surprisingly, both Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolets of Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray experienced tons of bad luck in today’s race and as a result they are eliminated. And last but not least, this year’s Cinderella story of Chris Buescher and Front Row Motorsports has also been eliminated from running for a championship.
The next race for the Sprint Cup Series is the “Bank of America 500” at Charlotte Motor Speedway October 8, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC. For more Sprint Cup updates check out @lastlapinsider on Instagram.
