Martin Truex, Jr. Spins and Wins at Richmond Cup Race

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RICHMOND, VA – RIS – Martin Truex survived a spin while in the lead, but battled Kyle Busch for the win at the Federated Auto Parts Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Race at Richmond International Raceway.  Truex survived a spin with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., to hunt down Busch and pass him with 25 laps to go.  He moved away and was never headed.

The night was a triumphant night for Truex’ car owner Joe Gibbs and Joe Gibbs Racing.  All four of his team’s entrants, Truex, Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Erik Jones finished 1-2-3-4 in the race.  Brad Keselowski finished fifth.  Gibbs cars won for the 15th time in 28 races this season. They finished in those top four spots, a first for the car owner.  Busch hung on to finish second, followed by teammates Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones.  JGR even dominated the stages.  Busch hung on to finish second, followed by teammates Hamlin and Jones.

"To spin and win is pretty incredible. I've never done anything like that in my life," Truex said in Victory Lane.

The victory was his series-high sixth of the season.

Truex also gained a sweep of the season at Richmond, where his victory in April was his first in 81 career starts on a short track.

Busch anticipated that Truex would catch him before the night was over.

"I don't think we were as good as him all night long," Busch said, who along with Kevin Harvick assured himself a spot in the second stage of the playoff, which begins after next weekend's race at Charlotte.

Keselowski knew going in that his car was better on short runs, and it proved true.

"We just weren't quite as fast as the Gibbs cars," Keselowski said, “especially on long green-flag runs.”

After his strong early run, Keselowski finished in fifth, ahead of Ryan Newman - who secured his second-best result of the season with sixth.

The Roush Fenway driver ran as high as third during the third stage but couldn't compete with the dominant Toyotas.

Kyle Larson was seventh, ahead of Kevin Harvick. Although he started from the front row of the grid, Stewart-Haas driver Harvick only featured at the very front of the field in the opening few laps but did remain in the top 10 all night.

Clint Bowyer finished behind his SHR team-mate in ninth, while Daniel Suarez in a third SHR entry completed the top 10 and was the highest-place non-playoff driver.

While he didn't claim a top-10 finish, Joey Logano was the final playoff driver on the lead lap in 12th. Chase Elliott was the first post-season driver a lap down in 14th.

Among the other playoff contenders, Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch filled 17th to 19th positions, while Hendrick pairing Alex Bowman and William Byron were 24th and 25th respectively in what was a difficult evening for the multi-championship-winning team.

Other than stage ending cautions, there was only three yellow flag periods - one for Bowman spinning following a retaliatory push from Austin Dillion, another for backmarker Reed Sorensen making contact with the wall amid brake problems and the last for Truex's spin.

Bowman, Jones, Bowyer and Kurt Busch are the drivers currently on course to be eliminated after the next race.

That race is tricky road course Charlotte calls the ROVAL, a road course that used much of the 1.5-mile oval.  Last year, it was exciting, but gave problems to the Cup stars. 

Unofficial Results: 62nd Annual Federated Auto Parts 400: Richmond Raceway: September 21, 2019

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 8, Martin Truex Jr. (P), 19, Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 400, 1, 3, 109, 6, 2, 59, Running
2) 4, Kyle Busch (P), 18, M&M's Hazelnut Toyota, 400, 2, 2, 202, 1, 1, 54, Running
3) 6, Denny Hamlin (P), 11, FedEx Office Toyota, 400, 4, , , , 3, 49, Running
4) 16, Erik Jones (P), 20, Craftsman Toyota, 400, 9, , , , 4, 42, Running
5) 1, Brad Keselowski (P), 2, Discount Tire Ford, 400, 3, 2, 89, , 5, 46, Running
6) 19, Ryan Newman (P), 6, Roush Performance Ford, 400, , , , , 6, 36, Running
7) 13, Kyle Larson (P), 42, Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 2, Kevin Harvick (P), 4, Mobil 1 Ford, 400, 5, , , , 7, 39, Running
9) 5, Clint Bowyer (P), 14, CSU/One Cure Ford, 400, 6, , , , 9, 35, Running
10) 14, Daniel Suarez, 41, Haas Automation Ford, 400, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 10, Jimmie Johnson, 48, Ally Chevrolet, 400, 10, , , , 10, 28, Running
12) 28, Joey Logano (P), 22, Shell Pennzoil Ford, 400, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 37, Bubba Wallace, 43, Victory Junction Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 3, Chase Elliott (P), 9, NAPA Chevrolet, 399, 8, , , , 8, 29, Running
15) 12, Matt DiBenedetto, 95, Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota, 399, 7, , , , , 26, Running
16) 18, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17, Fastenal Ford, 399, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 7, Aric Almirola (P), 10, Smithfield Ford, 399, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 15, Ryan Blaney (P), 12, Menards/Richmond Ford, 399, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 9, Kurt Busch (P), 1, Monster Energy Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 27, David Ragan, 38, MDS Trucking Ford, 398, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 26, Matt Tifft #, 36, Surface Sunscreen Ford, 397, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 11, Michael McDowell, 34, Long John Silver's Ford, 397, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 17, Austin Dillon, 3, Okuma Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 20, Alex Bowman (P), 88, Nationwide Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 25, William Byron (P), 24, Liberty University Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 22, Daniel Hemric #, 8, Caterpillar Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 30, Ty Dillon, 13, GEICO Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 24, Paul Menard, 21, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 395, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 34, Landon Cassill(i), 00, University of Richmond Chevrolet, 395, , , , , , 0, Running
30) 29, Corey LaJoie, 32, CorvetteParts.net Ford, 395, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 21, Ryan Preece #, 47, Kroger Chevrolet, 394, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 23, Chris Buescher, 37, Fast Lane to Flavor Chevrolet, 393, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 32, Austin Theriault, 51, Jacob Companies Chevrolet, 392, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 38, JJ Yeley(i), 52, Byrna Ford, 391, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 35, * Spencer Boyd(i), 53, AQRE.app Chevrolet, 388, , , , , , 0, Running
36) 36, * Quin Houff, 27,  Chevrolet, 384, , , , , , 1, Running
37) 31, Ross Chastain(i), 15,  Chevrolet, 265, , , , , , 0, Brakes
38) 33, Reed Sorenson, 77, Go Parts Chevrolet, 233, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs qualified

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 57 Mins, 27 Secs.
Total Race Length: 400 Laps, 300. Miles
Average Speed: 101.437 MPH
Margin of Victory: 2.630 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 18, 2, 11, 4, 14, 95, 9, 20, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 18, 19, 11, 20, 2, 6, 4, 9, 14, 48

Race Comments: Martin Truex Jr. won the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway, his 25th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start of the race the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 27 (unapproved adjustments), No. 43, 52 (failed post-qualifying inspection).

Caution Flags: 5 for 32 laps;
Laps: 102-108 (Stage 1 conclusion [12]);
113-116 (No. 3, 88, 21 Incident Turn 4 [22]);
202-209 (Stage 2 conclusion [43]);
244-250 (No. 77 Incident Turn 2 [22]);
316-321 (No. 17, 19 Incident Turn 4 [10]).

Lead Changes: 6 among 3 drivers;
B. Keselowski (P) 0;
B. Keselowski (P) 1-53;
M. Truex Jr. (P) 54-103;
K. Busch (P) 104-245;
B. Keselowski (P) 246-281;
M. Truex Jr. (P) 282-314;
K. Busch (P) 315-374;
M. Truex Jr. (P) 375-400.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kyle Busch, No. 18

Fastest Lap: Kyle Busch, No. 18

Moog Go the Extra Mile: Kyle Busch, No. 18 crew chief Adam Stevens, 0.181 seconds

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Matt Tifft, No. 36

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 9, Posted 12:27 AM, 09.22.2019