Martin Truex Jr. won Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover Speedway, his second victory in NASCAR’s Chase and fourth of the season. He now heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway, a track at which he has already won in dominant fashion earlier this year.
Martin Truex Jr., and the Furniture Row Racing team are the team to beat. Seven races remain and then a champion will be crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Despite his consistent performances and the speed he brings, his work is still cut out for him in the final events.
“It’s a fair question,” said Truex Jr.,Sunday’s winner at Dover Speedway. It is a track that is near his hometown of Mayetta, N.J. “It’s a good question. But we have done this all year long. You look at this team and what we’ve done, aside from bad luck, I can’t tell you how many races we could have won this year. You’ve seen the same thing.”
The rain-delayed Xfinity Series contest ran earlier in the morning, providing a benefit to the Sprint Cup drivers. The track already had plenty of rubber laid down on it, which let the racers run high right off the bat
Brad Keselowski jumped out to an early lead, but Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch soon found their way to the front. The front-runners caught the rear of the field in just 16 laps. As a result, there were only six cars on the lead lap when the checkered flag waved.
A broken track bar sent Kevin Harvick behind the wall early on. Harvick won last week so it didn’t effect his advancement. The other drivers that will be moving on to Charlotte Speedway after their performances Sunday are: Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Busch’s teammate Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon.
It was another frustrating day for Johnson at Dover Speedway. He has 10 career victories at Dover Speedway. He has had to deal with continuing problems during pit stops, as well as some miscalculations of his own on the track, over the past several races.
“Today was a different set of circumstances on pit road,” said Johnson, who finished seventh. “I was coming into my pit box as (Kyle Busch) and (Aric Almirola) were just leaving theirs and they were directly behind my box. We slammed on the brakes and get turned and get underneath those guys to come in. I was pretty close to my box so I assume that just threw the rhythm. Unfortunately, somebody came off the wall early. Certainly a mistake, but it’s not one that I’ve ever had happen.”
The drivers on the Chase bubble suffered through all kinds of mechanical issues and mental errors. In the end, it would be enough to crush their championship dreams for 21016.
Kyle Larson went three laps down just 45 circuits into the event after an electrical problem and a pit-road infraction. Jamie McMurray lost a cylinder in his Chevrolet that ended his hopes and dreams. Tony Stewart never found enough speed to stay on the lead lap. And Chris Buescher couldn’t hang with the big boys on Sunday.
First, Kyle Larson went a lap down when he had to come in for an unscheduled pit stop because of an electrical issue. Apparently it had something to do with a battery connection.
Then it went from bad to worse at Dover Speedway. The team was penalized for having too many crew members over the wall during the stop. Kyle Larson went three laps down at Dover International Speedway and never could recover.
“I don’t know what happened with the battery or whatever, but I lost power and lost a lap,” Larson said. “Then we had too many men over the wall. Really, if we hadn’t had too many men over the wall we probably would have been all right. I could have overcame the one lap deficit.”
Jamie McMurray was on the verge of racing his way into the next round of the Chase. Unfortunately, he lost a motor in his Chip Gnassi hot-rod and his playoff hopes were dashed.
The bad luck and poor pit stops by the other teams was Austin Dillon savior. The #3 Chevrolet speedster for Richard Childress Racing did well. Dillon’s impressive eight-place run and the eventual poor finishes by Kyle Larson, allowed the youngster to advance from the bubble position.
The Chase now moves to Martin Truex Jr’s. home turf in Charlotte, N.C. for Saturday evening’s contest. Truex Jr. won the Coca-Cola 600 there earlier this year. He will once again be the favorite to drive on to another victory there.
