Martin Truex Jr. dominated Sunday’s First Data 500 at
Martinsville Speedway locking himself into the Championship 4. The Mayetta, New
Jersey native won every stage of the event and led 464 laps. Most importantly,
the 2017 champion will be appearing in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami
Speedway for the fourth time in his career.
“I can’t believe we just won Martinsville, man,” Truex
said after his win at Martinsville. “Miami (site of the season finale) is
awesome, but we’ve wanted to win here for a long time.”
William Byron finished .489 seconds behind what could
have been his first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Although
the non-playoff driver did not lead any laps, he ran well in the top-10 all day
and showed during the conclusion of the race that he may have had the second-best
car.
“He was really strong,” said Byron, who was referring
to Truex’s domination. “I could work my brake bias a little bit in the car and
gain a little bit, and then I’d get to him and I’d heat up a lot and then kind
of fall back. I don’t really know. He was super strong. Our car bounced a
little bit in the short run, which was tough to kind of get around. But
overall, it was a really good day.”
Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott started
off the day looking strong. Suffering a broken axle while leaving pit road on
Lap 179, Elliott began in the rear of the field due to an engine change earlier
that weekend. He drove the No. 9 Mountain Dew Chevy Camaro to the top-10 before
the mechanical issue.
“Just disappointing for a day like that,” Elliott said.
“We know better, and we can do better than that.”
Playoff contenders Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin had a
post-race scuffle at the end. On Lap 458, both were coming off of Turn 4 and
Logano was pushed up against the wall by Hamlin. The No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford
Mustang suffered right-side damage resulting in a cut tire.
"I just wanted to talk to him about [the on-track
incident]. I was pretty frustrated. He kind of came off the corner like he
didn't have a car on the outside of him. It ruined our day. We had a shot at
the win for sure," Logano said.
After spinning on Lap 460, Logano was able to finish in
8th while Hamlin brought home his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry in the fourth
position. The second Team Penske driver in the playoffs is Ryan Blaney, who had
a strong car all day and finished in the sixth position.
Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick didn’t have
the speed many expected him to have at the Virginia short track. Placing
outside of the top-10 in the first two stages, Harvick was able to top that off
with a seventh-place finish.
Another driver that struggled the majority of the race
was Kyle Larson. Larson raced most of the day in the top-20 but at the end of
Stage 2 crew chief Chad Johnston decided to have him not pit during the caution
and placed second at the end of the segment. He ultimately finished ninth but
sits outside the top-four 15 points behind the cutline.
The other Kyle in the field finished in the 14th position.
Kyle Busch was battling Aric Almirola in the top-10 on Lap 361 when they both
got into each other in different corners. Almirola displayed his frustration
after the race while Busch was also upset about how the event turned out.
"We've got three more weeks, and I'm going to
make it hell for him," Almirola said postrace.
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
schedule is the AAA Texas 500 on Sunday, Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort
Worth. It is the eighth race of the 10-race playoffs and the second race in the
Round of 8. It starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBCSN and
SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Here are the standings going into Texas:
