Würth 400: Martin Truex snaps his winless streak at the Monster Mile

After a 54 race losing streak, Martin Truex Jr. scores his first win of the Next Gen era at Dover Motor Speedway.

Due to rain, qualifying was rained out and the race was pushed to Monday. The metric placed last week’s winner Kyle Busch on the pole with Christopher Bell on the outside. 

The green flag dropped and Busch jumped out to the lead until the competition caution at lap 20. Under the pit stops, Busch was handed a speeding penalty, handing the lead of the race to Brad Keselowski in the #6.

Lap 28 saw the restart but it wouldn’t last for long as Gragson in the #42 wrecked on the backstretch.

The field was re-racked on lap 34 with Byron out front until a wreck on the frontstretch saw Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and BJ McLeod sliding down the track, also collecting damage was Kyle Busch in the #8.

The green flag flew again on lap 42, Byron jumped out front and began to log some laps in the top spot.

Lap 81 saw the 4th caution of the day as the #15 of Brennan Poole was sent into turn 1 by Ross Chastain, collecting Larson in the #5. Poole was out of his first cup race since 2020 and Larson was sentenced to run the remainder of the race multiple laps down, out of contention.

Busch and Chastain lined up on the front row but it was Byron who ducked underneath both of them, taking the lead and the win in stage 1.

Stage One Results:

1. #24
2. #11
3. #12
4. #6
5. #1
6. #17
7. #20
8. #4
9. #19
10.  #47

Byron and Blaney took the front row and Byron jumped back out front. 

During a cycle of green flag stops on lap 178, Chastain ran down Byron and took the lead. After all had cycled through, Chastain emerged out front of Byron and led until the end of the second stage.

Stage Two Results:

1. #1
2. #24
3. #12
4. #19
5. #11
6. #54
7. #17
8. #45
9. #9
10.  #20

The green flag dropped on lap 259 with Byron and Chastain taking up the front row. Byron jumped into the lead, but 27 laps later, Chastain ran him down and took the lead for the second time in the race, as Byron’s car began to rapidly fade back through the field.

After the final cycle of green flag stops, Truex managed to work his way out in front of Chastain, and held off multiple challenges from the Trackhouse Racing driver as the laps wound down.

Within 20 to go, Truex ran into lap traffic allowing for Chastain to challenge for the lead. Until 14 to go, when Joey Logano, who was running laps down, wrecked in turn 4 to bring out the final caution of the day.

Under the ensuing stops, Truex, Blaney and Bell stopped for 2 tires, with Chastain stopping for 4. 

With 7 to go, Truex held of multiple hard charges from Blaney in the #12 and Chastain in the #1 to snap his 54 race winless streak. After his younger brother Ryan’s win in the Xfinity series on saturday, the Truex brothers complete a sweep at Dover Motor Speedway.

Ross Chastain finished in the runner-up spot after leading 98 laps.

Ryan Blaney, who had been running in the top 3 for almost the whole race, finished in 3rd.

William Byron, who had dominated the day up until the closing laps of the second stage, ending his day with a 4th place finish. 

Josh Berry finished 10th in the #48 while performing his 2nd stint as a Hendrick relief driver, matching his stellar performances here in the Xfinity series.

Featured Image Credits: Joe Gibbs Racing on Twitter