DOVER, Delaware — Martin Truex Jr. completed the Monster Mile for the third time of his career on a Monday, and the former NASCAR Champion achieved a 54-race winning streak in the Cup Series at Dover Motor Speedway.
It was a long weekend for the Truex brothers thanks to a race being postponed a day due to rain. Younger brother Ryan Truex won the second-tier Xfinity Series race Saturday for his first NASCAR win in all three national series in 188 career starts.
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Big Brother stuck his head in Ryan’s Toyota as he steered it into Victory Lane. Martin Truex Jr. enjoyed a successful family weekend.
“It’s just special,” Truex Jr. said. “It was such a big day for our family to see Ryan do that on Saturday.”
Martin knows how to get to Victory Lane in Dover. The 2017 cup winner has the blueprint on how to win on the monster mile. He drove to his first NASCAR Cup win at Dover on June 4, 2007 and took advantage of another rain shower 12 years later to take the checkered flag on May 6, 2019.
In 2016, Truex also won a regularly scheduled Sunday race here.
Truex held strong on the flank on Monday after the last restart to hold off second-place finisher Ross Chastain by half a second. Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Denny Hamlin completed the top five.
“We knew we could do this,” Truex said. “Everything just never worked out.”
Truex was once one of the most dominant drivers in the series, winning eight career bests in 2017 and 23 times overall from 2016-19. But the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been without a win since his last cup win on September 11, 2021, at Richmond Raceway.
Determined to bounce back from a winless season, Truex opened his 18th full season with an exhibition win at the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
He had three top 10 finishes this season in the No. 19 Toyota but failed to find his way into victory lane before Monday. He earned his 32nd career Cup win and became the 10th driver to win four or more Cup races at Dover.
“It feels good to get one that comes our way,” Truex said.
So are you telling me there’s a chance?
Noah Gragson did the editing.
No, not to Victory Lane, but to his head as he shaved the sides leaving just a mop of hair on top.
Gragson jokingly said, “I’m about to put it on black, baby,” as he showed a signed $100 bill from fellow NASCAR driver Austin Dillon as part of the payout for the Legacy Motor Club driver winning a bowl would get cut.
“Some say I lost a bet,” Gragson said. “I think I won.”
He certainly didn’t win at Dover and finished 34th due to an early accident. Gragson hasn’t finished better than 30th in any of his last five races.
HE SAID IT
“Probably has his butt cheering,” Brennan Poole said after being hit by Chastain in a wreck that also killed Kyle Larson.
NEXT
NASCAR goes to the Kansas Speedway. Kurt Busch won what was likely the last race of his career there, after it was abandoned due to a head injury sustained in a crash at Pocono last summer. Bubba Wallace won the fall race at the track.
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