LOUDON, NH – Martin Truex Jr. mastered another Monday morning to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 30 career Cup attempts at the same track where, as a child, he watched from the stands while his father was running.
Thanks to rain postponements, Truex won his second Monday race of the season – he also won at Dover – and the fourth of his career.
Truex dominated the No. 19 Toyota en route to his third victory of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored one of the few victories he desperately wanted in a career that could be coming to an end. Truex, 43, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said over the weekend that he is on the verge of making a decision about his future: either retire or return for another season at JGR.
At the Magic Mile, it was simply time for a long-overdue celebration.
“This one has eluded me for a long, long time,” Truex said.
Joey Logano finished second. Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.
Truex was leading with 15 laps to go when JGR teammate Christopher Bell, last year’s New Hampshire winner, hit the wall to bring out the eighth caution.
“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is in the lead, don’t crash alone,” Truex said on the radio.
It really didn’t matter to Truex. He nailed the restart with nine laps to go and was able to taste victory – and soon, the 20-pound lobster that traditionally goes to the winner.
It’s a perfect reward for Truex, who also grew up helping his father on his family’s clam boat.
This victory was special. Truex accompanied his childhood to New Hampshire when his father raced here in the 1990s and got his first taste of the sights, smells and sounds of a NASCAR garage.
One memory stood out among the others: seeing Dale Earnhardt tinkering with his carburetor under the hood of his car.
“I stood there in awe and watched,” Truex said this weekend.
And as soon as Truex was able to run at New Hampshire, he won. Truex had just turned 20 when he won a Regional Stock Car Series race at the track. Pretty cool. Even better? His father finished fifth in the same race.
“This place is one of the main reasons I got to where I am,” the younger Truex said.
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Truex enjoyed early success at Loudon once he moved up to Cup in 2006, earning a third place and a fifth in 2007 while the series still ran here twice a season and a fourth and seventh in 2008. He had six consecutive top 10 finishes from 2016 to 2020 and led 172 laps from pole last season before moving to fourth. Truex said his JGR team “panicked” with a late call for two tires that backfired and cost them the checkered flag.
“This is one I’ve really wanted for a long time,” Truex said. “Maybe too much, I don’t know.”
Just like last year, Truex won the first two stages of the 301-lap race.
BUSCH DISAPPOINTMENT
Kyle Busch was forced to drive his backup car after the No. 8 Chevrolet suffered damage during practice and qualifying. Busch hit the wall early in the race and was forced to retire after 71 laps. The two-time Cup champion finished last. Busch has one win and finished in the top 10 in each of his last seven races.
“I’ve lacked grip at right-back the whole time we’ve been here,” he said. “I just couldn’t get the feel of the right back on the race track.”
FOLLOWING
The series moves to Pocono Raceway, where Chase Elliott is the defending race winner – although he failed to finish first. Denny Hamlin had his win at Pocono vacated, as did runner-up Kyle Busch, due to failed inspections. Hamlin was the first DQ winner since 1960.
