Ultimately, Martin Truex Jr. was ready for Martinsville. (Photo: James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Though Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin seemed to have the cars to beat, it was Martin Truex Jr. who put himself back in victory lane.
The short track with a short temper claimed many victims. However, Truex, who is becoming the king of this track, was not one of them. With 15 laps to go, Truex charged to the lead and won the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500.
Talking about his win, the driver said: “It was incredible at the end there. We never could quite get it where we wanted it, but it got dark and we came to life”.
When it came to talking about his car, Truex stated, “I can’t believe we won here again after not having the dominant car.” Also, Truex mentioned that he enjoyed racing his teammate Hamlin at the end of the race.
Stage 1
Saturday, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin led the field to green. While Logano led this race, Hamlin quickly took over and would stay in the top spot most of the day. As these two raced for the lead, the rest of the field raced the increasingly heavy rain. On lap 37, a caution was called for James Davison as he spun around, bringing the field to pit road. Laps later (lap 42), the drizzle quickly turned into a downpour and every car was called back to the pits. The red flag was raised for rain, halting the race for the remainder of the evening.
The race resumed late Sunday afternoon with pleasantly sunny conditions.
Again, the field was led to green on lap 47 by Hamlin and Logano. To no surprise, Hamlin claimed the top spot. However, a caution quickly followed four laps later as Kurt Busch went around in his GearWrench Chevrolet.
This caution stacked the cars back together and presented a new opponent to the mix, Ryan Blaney.
On lap 76, Blaney took the lead from Hamlin setting up our main match for the race. The long-run car of Blaney and the short-run car of Hamlin would be the dominant cars today.
Lapped traffic intensified the battle between the 11 and 12 cars. Drivers like Aric Almirola and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gave Blaney a hard time as they fought to stay on the lead lap. Though they tried, it was not enough to stop Ryan Blaney from winning stage one.
Stage 1 top 10: Blaney-Hamlin-Truex-Elliott-Larson-Byron-Bowman-Keselowski-Logano-Bell
Stage 2
Blaney and Hamlin lead the way, but again, it was Hamlin that took the first spot. This left Blaney to wrestle with Truex for the second position (same song different dance).
Behind them, Kyle Busch charged his way to the front of the field in fourth until his car faded. Teammates Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, and William Byron fought each other for Kyle Busch’s lost position. Behind them, teammate Chase Elliott caught up landing in seventh.
As teams started to move up in the field, drivers like Ryan Preece and Joey Logano struggled. Preece started to have alternator issues with his car and crept towards pit road 43 laps into the stage. Logano, who has a good history here, kept moving backward through the field. His team struggled to find the right adjustments for their car through the race.
Stage two would only get worse for Logano as his uphill climb began. Cody Ware spun out on lap 241 and brought out the yellow. Logano was caught speeding on pit road, sending him to the back of the pack. Though this caution did not end well for Logano, it allowed 16 other cars to take the waive around. This allowed drivers like Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones back on the lead lap.
Back to the green flag, Blaney took the lead with 13 to go in the stage. However, with nine to go, Ryan Newman and Matt DiBenedetto make contact bringing out another caution. The restart would stack Hamlin and Blaney right next to each other, but Blaney maintained his position.
In an intense battle on the restart, Blaney was able to hang onto the lead, beating Hamlin to the line by half a car length in an exciting two-lap shoot-out!
Stage 2 Top 10: Blaney-Hamlin-Truex Jr.-Elliott-Bowman-Keselowski-Byron-Reddick-Ky. Busch-Ku. Busch
Final Stage
Beginning of the end
Pit strategy started to come into play at the start of the final stage. Lead lap drivers like Hamlin, William Byron, and Brad Keselowski chose to stay on the track during the pit stops.
Restarting on lap 270, Hamlin took the lead while Keselowski and Byron made up the rest of the top three. Kurt Busch got his car to fourth and Logano, in the fifth position, was able to overcome his penalty.
Laps later, their strategy was tarnished when Justin Haley brought out a caution on lap 277. Shortly after, Cody Ware brought out another caution on lap 290. These cautions brought almost every driver to pit road where Austin Dillon would receive a penalty for pitting outside his box.
This caution created an exciting restart as more drivers opted to stay on the track during pit stops. Bubba Wallace lead the field to green followed by Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, and Aric Almirola. On the restart, Wallace was able to keep his 23 car in the lead for 23 laps, the most laps led in his career.
Unfortunately, Wallace lost his lead to Byron on lap 315. Denny Hamlin, with his incredibly dominant Toyota Camry, got back to the front and battled Newman for third. His charge for the lead was put to a halt for yet another caution. Kyle Busch brought out the yellow on lap 322 for an issue with the car that sent him spinning.
Cautions, Cautions, Cautions!
Hamlin edged out Byron on the restart, leading the pack for a short time until another caution was brought out for Anthony Alfredo. This caution would be the starting trend of many to come.
On lap 152, another caution came out as Newman spun his car on the restart bringing damage to the 10 car, the 99 and 20. More damage was dealt to these cars on the restarts to follow as the 48 of Bowman, who ran fourth at the time, reported a bad vibration that sent him to pit road. Kurt Busch had a rub on his right rear tire that also sent him to his pit box from a great position on the track.
The misfortune of others brought luck to LaJoie, landing his car in eleventh as drivers were being picked off one by one in these incidents. Ryan Blaney, who was using these cautions to propel his car back to the front, also found fortune in other driver’s struggles. Then, yet another caution was brought out for Erik Jones with 130 to go, and this is where LaJoie’s luck ended for the night after a pit road incident with Tyler Reddick ripped the hood off his car and sent him to the back of the pack for damage.
The Big One
The misfortune continued and “the big one” hit with 114 to go in the race when Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher got into a heated battle for track position.
Kyle Busch tried to get to the inside of Buescher, got loose, and Buescher went down on the 18 making contact with Kyle’s car turning both around. This quarrel created a massive 15 car pileup on the short track.
The drivers involved were numerous: Ku. Busch, Keselowski (DNF), Davison, Buescher, Ky. Busch, DiBenedetto, McDowell, Preece (DNF), Alfredo, Custer, Jones, Bowman (DNF), Ware, Haley (DNF), Suarez (DNF).
Pit Road Catastrophe
This caution brought the Hamlin and Blaney show back in full swing on the restart as the cars behind them slipped and slid, trying to find a way to get themselves to the top. Elliott and Larson fought hard for position within the top five while Bell and Harvick moved in on the battle. Logano, Wallace, and Harvick also fought to stay inside the top 10 but did not have anything for the leaders.
Drivers struggled to find a way to take down the top dogs until a caution with 49 to go changed everything.
Chase Briscoe spun, bringing the field to pit road for the final time. These pit stops had to be flawless to contend for the win and Ryan Blaney’s ended in disaster. Blaney’s car got stuck on the air hose and was sent to the rear of the field for taking equipment out of the pit box. Though these cautions and pit stops helped so many drivers, notably Blaney for a good bit of his run, this pit stop took Blaney out of contention for the win after a dominant race.
Once Blaney was out of contention, the question remained: Who could take Hamlin down?
Who Can Defeat Hamlin?
The final restart with 41 to go was led by Truex, Hamlin, Larson, and Elliott. Hamlin was able to bolt to the lead but was not out of sight. Teammate Truex found speed at the right time and challenged Hamlin for the lead with 24 to go. It was back and forth, Hamlin had the edge, then Truex. This intense and exciting battle went on for laps and laps as the race dwindled to a close.
With 15 to go Truex was able to take over the top spot and left Hamlin to battle it out with Elliott for the second position.
As the laps faded away, Truex’s car came to life and there was no stopping him. Pulling far ahead of the pack, Martin Truex Jr. drove his car across the finish line and won the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500!
Final Top 10 Results: Truex-Elliott-Hamlin-Byron-Larson-Logano-Bell-Reddick-Harvick-Ky.Busch-Blaney
Thoughts at the Finish Line:
Words from the Top 3:
Truex (p.1): “Yeah, it was interesting how it all played out there. I thought throughout the day we were a third- to a fifth- place car in there. At one point in the middle of the race we got off a little bit, probably a sixth- or seventh-place car. It was kind of a weird day. Proud of the guys for working hard on it. They did a good job. That last pit stop we were able to get us the lead. Couldn’t quite hold off the 11 on that restart. He was really fast firing off. Just tried to stay with him and take care of my car. Knew there was enough laps left that tire wear in the long run was going to come into play.”
Elliott (p.2): “I really felt like we were not perfect all day but we did make it better as the day went along. The run was kind of that right distance for me to maximize it, anything longer and I feel like I was gonna fade. We worked really hard to get back to second.”
Hamlin (p.3): “I thought it was a matter of time,” Hamlin remarked. “With about 25 to go or so, he already got into my rear bumper, kind of beating the back end off. It was just a matter of time.” “The only hope, we had an extra set of tires over everyone. Hell, we would have pitted, taken tires, restarted 20th. That wasn’t going to work either.”
Words from Other Key Players:
Blaney (p. 11): “Long runs we were really good…We got that put road penalty at the end, just a mistake. Real proud of the effort, just wish we ccould close one out.”
Suarez (p. 32) discussing the crash that ended his night: “Nothing I really could do. It was a parking lot. I slammed on the breaks as hard as I could, but it was too late.” “We just made a lot of mistakes today. The 24 (Byron) was the reason I was in that position. He’ll have one coming.”
