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Motorsport
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Sport
Jim Utter

Ryan Truex claims first career Xfinity win at Dover

Truex, the 31-year-old younger brother of former Cup champion Martin Truex Jr., has come painstakingly close to victory in both the Xfinity and Truck series during his career.

He finally broke through to Victory Lane on Saturday in a dominating performance to win Saturday’s Xfinity race at his home track of Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.

Truex has been running a partial schedule this season with Joe Gibbs Racing. Two of his previous seven top-five finishes in 88 career starts have come driving JGR’s No. 19 Toyota this season.

Truex cycled through a late-race round of green-flag pit stops holding the lead despite a hiccup on his stop and cruised to a 4.8-second win over Josh Berry.

“I’m out of breath, man. Oh, my God,” said Truex, who is from nearby Mayetta, N.J. “I’m just so thankful – all these fans, my team, everybody that stuck behind me. Most people didn’t believe in me but I still did.

“I’m just so thankful to be here. It’s amazing. With 20 to go, I was just waiting for something to happen. I was praying, ‘Please, God, just keep everything straight and let’s get to the end of this.’

“What a car. I’m speechless. I’m not an emotional guy. This was for everyone that doubted me.”

Justin Allgaier finished third, Austin Hill fourth and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-five.

Cole Custer, who finished seventh, was the highest finishing driver among the four eligible and collected the final $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus of the season.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead-lap cars pit with Austin Hill first off pit road and taking the lead on the restart on Lap 100.

Truex soon reclaimed the top spot on Lap 112.

With 50 laps remaining in the race, Truex had built a 4.9-second lead over Austin Hill as Allgaier had moved into third.

On Lap 164, Nemechek and Sammy Smith were the first to hit pit road to kick off a round of green-flag pit stops for new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Truex had a slow stop after he brought his No. 19 Toyota in too close to pit wall, which cost his crew several seconds on pit road.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 190, Truex cycled back into the lead with five second advantage over Berry.

Stage 2

Truex dominated on his way to the Stage 2 win, beating Austin Hill by more than five seconds.

Nemechek was third, Allgaier fourth and Custer rounded out the top-five.

During pit stops between the break between Stages 1 and 2, Riley Herbst and Parker Retzclaff were both penalized for speeding and had to restart from the rear of the field.

Parker Kligerman, who started on the pole when qualifying got rained out, wrecked out of the race on Lap 46 after being hit by Corey Heim.

Stage 1

Once he got the lead, Truex easily held off Nemechek to take the Stage 1 win, his first career stage victory.

Sheldon Creed was third, Austin Hill fourth and Berry rounded out the top-five.

During the second caution of the race, Allgaier and Brett Moffitt were penalized for speeding on pit road and both had to restart from the rear of the field.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Laps Led
1 19 United States Ryan Truex Toyota 200 1:51'56.749     124
2 8 Josh Berry Chevrolet 200 1:52'01.569 4.820 4.820  
3 7 United States Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 200 1:52'03.062 6.313 1.493  
4 21 United States Austin Hill Chevrolet 200 1:52'07.811 11.062 4.749 18
5 20 United States John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 200 1:52'10.321 13.572 2.510  
6 18 Sammy Smith Toyota 200 1:52'12.560 15.811 2.239  
7 00 United States Cole Custer Ford 200 1:52'13.018 16.269 0.458 13
8 9 United States Brandon Jones Chevrolet 200 1:52'14.803 18.054 1.785  
9 1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet 200 1:52'18.554 21.805 3.751  
10 11 United States Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 200 1:52'19.816 23.067 1.262  
11 2 United States Sheldon Creed Chevrolet 199 1:51'57.988 1 Lap 1 Lap 41
12 26 United States Kaz Grala Toyota 199 1:52'07.153 1 Lap 9.165  
13 16 Chandler Smith Chevrolet 199 1:52'12.692 1 Lap 5.539  
14 02 United States Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 199 1:52'13.714 1 Lap 1.022 4
15 25 United States Brett Moffitt Ford 199 1:52'13.782 1 Lap 0.068  
16 39 United States Ryan Sieg Ford 199 1:52'17.334 1 Lap 3.552  
17 31 Parker Retzlaff Chevrolet 199 1:52'17.527 1 Lap 0.193  
18 27 United States Jeb Burton Chevrolet 198 1:51'58.096 2 Laps 1 Lap  
19 51 United States Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 198 1:51'59.779 2 Laps 1.683  
20 10 United States Derek Kraus Chevrolet 198 1:52'09.402 2 Laps 9.623  
21 98 United States Riley Herbst Ford 198 1:52'12.508 2 Laps 3.106  
22 38 Joe Jr. Ford 198 1:52'19.604 2 Laps 7.096  
23 92 United States Josh Williams Chevrolet 198 1:52'21.128 2 Laps 1.524  
24 6 United States Brennan Poole Chevrolet 197 1:52'04.433 3 Laps 1 Lap  
25 43 United States Ryan Ellis Chevrolet 197 1:52'19.375 3 Laps 14.942  
26 45 Rajah Caruth Chevrolet 196 1:51'58.224 4 Laps 1 Lap  
27 08 United States Gray Gaulding Ford 196 1:52'12.224 4 Laps 14.000  
28 07 Stefan Parsons Chevrolet 196 1:52'21.150 4 Laps 8.926  
29 28 Kyle Sieg Ford 195 1:51'59.579 5 Laps 1 Lap  
30 66 United States Timmy Hill Ford 195 1:52'19.084 5 Laps 19.505  
31 4 United States Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 195 1:52'20.373 5 Laps 1.289  
32 91 Chad Chastain Chevrolet 193 1:52'10.997 7 Laps 2 Laps  
33 35 Emerlingб Patrick Chevrolet 192 1:52'03.734 8 Laps 1 Lap  
34 53 CJ Mclaughlin Ford 192 1:52'05.688 8 Laps 1.954  
35 24 Corey Heim Toyota 170 1:40'56.198 30 Laps 22 Laps  
36 78 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 123 1:40'10.021 77 Laps 47 Laps  
37 44 United States Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 119 1:17'59.873 81 Laps 4 Laps  
38 48 United States Parker Kligerman Chevrolet 62 38'27.021 138 Laps 57 Laps  
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