NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. is king of 1.5-milers, wins at Charlotte

Martin Truex Jr. reasserted his authority as king of the 1.5-mile ovals, winning the NASCAR Cup Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Some fans may get tired of seeing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series run on the “same” 1.5-mile ovals throughout the season. Charlotte Motor Speedway has been called one of those cookie-cutter tracks, but that will change in 2018. The fall race at Charlotte in 2017 was the final one on the oval, with the track becoming a road course next year. And Martin Truex Jr. flexed his muscle once again to win at NASCAR’s home track.

Truex Jr., who started fairly deep in the pack for Sunday’s early show, was not the dominant car that he has been at other 1.5-mile ovals this year. However, by improving on his car throughout the race, Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team tied Carl Edwards for the most wins on the intermediate ovals in one season with five. It was Truex Jr.’s sixth win overall in the 2017 campaign for a title.

The race would come down to an overtime finish following a spin involving Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson. Truex Jr. would hold off Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick for the race win. It was Harvick who had the dominant car on the day, leading the most laps and winning the first two stages. Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray would round out the top five finishers.

More from NASCAR

With just 12 drivers remaining in the hunt for the Cup Series championship entering Charlotte, many were looking to build a points cushion ahead of the wild-card race at Talladega Superspeedway next weekend. However, Kyle Busch was not one of those who got to add to his points total, struggling with his car and sustaining damage that relegated him to 29th.

Here are the full race results from the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (playoff drivers in italics):

Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, Furniture Row Racing
Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Kevin Harvick, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing
Daniel Suarez, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Ryan Blaney, Ford, Wood Brothers Racing
Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing
Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing
Trevor Bayne, Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing
Brad Keselowski, Ford, Team Penske
Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
Erik Jones, Toyota, Furniture Row Racing
Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Paul Menard, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Germain Racing
Kurt Busch, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, Go Fas Racing
Aric Almirola, Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports
Landon Cassill, Ford, Front Row Motorsports
Joey Logano, Ford, Team Penske
Clint Bowyer, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
Corey LaJoie, Toyota, BK Racing
Kyle Busch, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, TMG-Circle Sport Racing
Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports
B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, Rick Ware Racing
Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, MBM Racing
Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, TriStar Motorsports
Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, Leavine Family Racing
Gray Gaulding, Toyota, Premium Motorsports
David Ragan, Ford, Front Row Motorsports
Danica Patrick, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
Brett Moffitt, Toyota, BK Racing
Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

Next: Alex Bowman Earns First Career Xfinity Series Win

The next race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the wildest race of the NASCAR playoffs. Deep in the heart of Alabama, the top stock car drivers in the world will take on the high banks of Talladega. Who will survive the superspeedway? Coverage can be seen on Sunday, October 15 at 2:00 pm eastern on your local NBC station.

Home/NASCAR