Martin Truex remains undefeated in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, two races into the postseason, with his second-straight series win Saturday at Richmond Raceway in the Federated Auto Parts 400. His latest victory was his Cup Series-leading sixth of the season and the 15th for Joe Gibbs Racing. It also completed a sweep of the two Richmond races of the season.
“That’s never happened to me in my whole racing career,” Truex said. “Thanks to all the fans who came out tonight, and thanks to everyone on this team, Bass Pro Shops; our Camry was really fast tonight. It takes a lot of people to make this happen. I felt pretty good coming into this race. We’ve had a lot of heartbreakers over the years in Richmond. To come here and sweep this year, it must have been meant to be. Thanks to all of our guys, Toyota, TRD, everybody who makes this happen, Auto Owners, all of our partners that let us do this, and everybody back at Joe Gibbs Racing building unbelievable race cars. Hopefully, we can keep this up. We came here to get bonus points and we sure as hell did it.”
Truex led 109 laps of the 400-lap race, taking his last lead by passing JGR teammate Kyle Busch on lap 375. Truex was leading when he spun as a result of contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who had just pitted for new tires.
“I made a huge mistake there after we pitted under green,” Stenhouse said. “I drove it down into turn three, and I thought he was gonna give me the top, and then, he went to the top, so I dove back to the bottom, and when I did, it got on the splitter and pushed up into him and spun him. All I was hoping for after that point was he’d come back and win, but our Fastenal Mustang was a top 10-car. We were running, there, and just a bummer two weeks in a row that I’ve cost us a good finish.”
After pit stops during the caution that followed, Truex was still inside the top-three of the running order, trailing teammates Busch and Denny Hamlin.
“I just tried to stay out of the fence and get it straightened out,” Truex said. “Luckily, we got a caution, and we ended up in a pretty good spot when we came off pit road. We had a pretty good lead, there, and we were able to take advantage of it. From there, we were just battling. Had to pass the 11 [Hamlin], had to pass the 18 [Busch]. I knew it was going to be really tough to get by both of them. Both of them were strong all night long. Track position was important. I don’t know if the 18 fell off at that long run in the end, there, but we were to be a little bit better than them in the end and made the move.”
JGR scored a one-two-three finish at Richmond Saturday night, as Busch finished second after leading just over half the race [202 laps], and Hamlin was third.
“A great night for us,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “I am really proud of these guys and the guys back at the shop. We have so many great people, and I wish they could all be here to celebrate. It was a great team effort by everybody, all four cars, just a thrill. This doesn’t happen very often. We are going enjoy it. The Lord blessed us with a great night.”
The Gibbs looked to have its first-ever one-two-three-four finish with Erik Jones in fourth. But Jones’ car failed post-race inspection as a result of an issue with the rear toe. Because of the failed inspection, Jones was credited with a last-place finish [38th].
Instead, Brad Keselowski, the only other driver to lead laps, finished fourth, and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five to give playoff drivers a top-five sweep.
“We’ve got work to do,” Keselowski said. “They’re [JGR] really strong, and we’re not where we need to be to be able to beat them heads-up, but we threw everything we had at them. We put down a great qualifying lap, got the first pit stall, had great pit stops and got to the lead, but just didn’t have the raw speed to keep it.”
The JGR quartet of drivers also were the top-four of the running order at the end of the second 100-lap stage of the race, led by Busch. Busch led from the time he got off pit road first during the caution between the first two stages, beyond the beginning of the third and final stage that comprised the second half of the race.
He lost his lead when Keselowski beat him off pit road during a lap-242 cauton for a Reed Sorenson incident. Truex, then, took the lead from Keselowski on lap 282 and ran up front until his spin.
Busch led one last time before his teammate completely recovered from his late-race incident.
Truex also won the first stage that Keselowski and Truex combined to lead in its entirety. Keselowski started on the pole and led the first 53 laps before being passed by Truex on lap 54.
Kyle Larson, Harvick and Clint Bowyer finished sixth through eighth. The two highest-finishing, non-playoff drivers were Daniel Suarez and Jimmie Johnson in ninth and 10th.
Joey Logano finished 11th after starting the race in the 28th position and going a lap down at two different points in the race.
“It was a rough night,” Logano said. ”It was tough. We missed it at the start. I don’t know where, why, how yet. It’s pretty confusing. We were decent in practice, and on the long run, I thought we were pretty good, and we go to qualify, and we were really tight, and then, we start the race, and we’re really tight. So many rounds and air-pressure, and we hit everything we could hit to try to get the tight out of it. We got better, and we went from not being able to stay on the lead lap and getting a couple lucky dogs, and then, towards the end, we got semi-competitive. I wouldn’t say we were good, but a little closer to where we need to be. Overall, I think we had a 50-point cushion, I believe, over the cutline, so that’s a nice feeling going into the Roval. Maybe we can be a little more aggressive and try to get something, there.”
Other playoff drivers finishing outside the top-10 included Chase Elliott in 13th, Aric Almirola in 16th, Ryan Blaney in 17th, Kurt Busch in 18th, Alex Bowman in 23rd after an incident with Austin Dillon, and William Byron in 24th.
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