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Autosport
Autosport
Jim Utter

NASCAR Cup New Hampshire: Martin Truex Jr dominates delayed race

In the previous nine races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Truex had led 768 laps – including winning the pole last year – but had never finished better than third.

In Monday’s rain-delayed race at the one-mile oval in Loudon, Truex and his #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota were again dominant, leading 254 of 301 laps.

With three restarts in the final 23 laps, Truex still had to work for the win.

He quickly cleared Joey Logano on the final restart with nine laps to go and held him off by 0.394 seconds for the victory.

The win is the third of the 2023 season for Truex and 34th of the 43-year-old’s Cup career.

“What we’ve been able to do here over the years is pretty remarkable, and to not win was really getting frustrating,” Truex said. “James [Small, crew chief] and I talked about it many times.

“We thought about it all weekend, talked about it with Christopher [Bell] before the race. He’s like, ‘Man, you’ve led more laps here than I’ve even raced in Cup.’

“Just really an awesome job by everybody. What a race car we had today. Just proud of the whole team. Pit stops were flawless. Race car was unbelievable.”

In his last 10 races at New Hampshire, Truex has now led 1,022 laps.

Kyle Larson ended up third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe.

Truex cruised to the Stage 1 win over Byron, but Kyle Busch slammed the wall on the final of the 70 laps and did significant damage to this #8 Chevrolet.

Reddick was third, Aric Almirola fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.

A.J. Allmendinger spun out just before a scheduled competition NASCAR due to the heavy rain on Sunday.

Most of teams used the opportunity to pit for new tyres with William Byron first off pit road utilizing a two-tire stop.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr remained on the track and inherited the lead but was soon overtaken by Byron, who eventually relinquished the lead to Truex, who had taken four new tires.

Truex reclaimed the lead on a restart with 11 of 115 laps to go and held off Larson to win Stage 2. Logano was third, Blaney fourth and Hamlin fifth.

A late-stage caution for a spin by Erik Jones resulted in some different pit strategies with Almirola taking over the lead thanks to a two-tire pit stop. On the restart, Almirola wrecked in Turn 1 due to a loose right-rear wheel.

 

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, several lead-lap cars pit with Harvick first off pit road. Truex remained on the track and in the lead to begin the final 116-lap stage.

With 75 laps to go in the race, Truex maintained about a one-second lead over Blaney as Logano ran third.

Blaney was the first to hit pit road with 65 laps remaining to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops for new tyres and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on lap 257, Truex returned to the lead with a three-second advantage over Blaney and Larson in third.

Noah Gragson slammed the wall at Turn 2 on lap 271 to bring out the sixth caution of the race. Most drivers elected to pit and took two new tyres.

 

Blaney was penalised for running over equipment during his stop and had to restart from the rear of the field. Harvick stayed on the track and led the way on the restart with 24 laps to go.

Truex, on two new tyres, quickly got around Harvick on the restart to reclaim the lead.

Ty Gibbs got into Bowman to bring out the seventh caution and set up a restart with 16 laps remaining and Truex still out front.

A wreck by Christopher Bell set up another restart with nine laps to go with Truex leading Logano and Larson.

NASCAR Cup New Hampshire race result

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1 United States M. Truex Jr. Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 301 3:08'07.628     8 60    
2 United States J. Logano Joey Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 301 +0.394 0.394   9 45    
3 United States K. Larson Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 301 +1.509 1.115   10 43    
4 United States K. Harvick Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 4 Ford 301 +2.118 0.609   9 38    
5 United States B. Keselowski Brad Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 301 +2.623 0.505   9 35    
6 United States T. Reddick Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 301 +4.541 1.918   10 41    
7 United States D. Hamlin Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 301 +4.792 0.251   9 40    
8 United States B. Wallace Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 301 +5.747 0.955   10 29    
9 United States A. Dillon Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 301 +6.244 0.497   9 28    
10 United States C. Briscoe Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 301 +6.607 0.363   9 27    
11 United States E. Jones Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Chevrolet 301 +7.127 0.520   9 26    
12 United States C. Elliott Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 301 +7.202 0.075   9 25    
13 United States M. McDowell Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 301 +7.883 0.681   10 25    
14 United States A. Bowman Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 301 +8.471 0.588   10 27    
15 United States C. Buescher Chris Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 301 +8.775 0.304   12 22    
16 Mexico D. Suarez Daniel Suarez TrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 301 +8.787 0.012   9 24    
17 United States J. Haley Justin Haley Kaulig Racing 31 Chevrolet 301 +9.251 0.464   10 20    
18 United States R. Stenhouse Jr. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Chevrolet 301 +9.650 0.399   9 19    
19 United States A. Allmendinger A.J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 301 +9.857 0.207   10 18    
20 United States H. Burton Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford 301 +10.223 0.366   9 17    
21 United States T. Gilliland Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 301 +10.451 0.228   10 16    
22 United States R. Blaney Ryan Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 301 +10.868 0.417   10 28    
23 United States R. Chastain Ross Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 301 +11.138 0.270   10 14    
24 United States W. Byron William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 301 +11.379 0.241   10 22    
25 United States A. Cindric Austin Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 301 +11.574 0.195   10 12    
26 United States T. Dillon Ty Dillon Spire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 301 +12.472 0.898   10 11    
27
T. Gibbs Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing
54 Toyota 301 +12.874 0.402   10 10    
28 United States R. Preece Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing 41 Ford 300 +1 Lap 1 Lap   11 9    
29 United States C. Bell Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 299 +2 Laps 1 Lap   16 14    
30 United States R. Newman Ryan Newman Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford 299 +2 Laps 5.408   10 7    
31 United States B. McLeod B.J. McLeod Live Fast Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 295 +6 Laps 4 Laps   9 6    
32 United States N. Gragson Noah Gragson Legacy Motor Club 42 Chevrolet 268 +33 Laps 27 Laps   9 5 Accident  
33 United States C. Lajoie Corey Lajoie Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 176 +125 Laps 92 Laps   9 4    
34 United States A. Almirola Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 10 Ford 168 +133 Laps 8 Laps   6 10 Accident  
35 United States C. Custer Cole Custer Rick Ware Racing 51 Ford 130 +171 Laps 38 Laps   6   Accident  
36 United States K. Busch Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 71 +230 Laps 59 Laps   5 1 Accident  

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