NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. wins again, now at Kansas Speedway
By Alex Herbst
The most dominant man in NASCAR in 2017 was back in victory lane on Sunday. Martin Truex Jr. capped off the Round of 12 with another win at Kansas Speedway.
The final race in the second round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs comes from America’s heartland. The Kansas Speedway has been called yet another one of those “cookie cutter” 1.5-mile ovals, but the action on Sunday in the Hollywood Casino 400 was anything but. At the end of the day, it was a familiar face celebrating in victory lane, with Martin Truex Jr. picking up his sixth win on the mile-and-a-half tracks this year.
Truex, who won earlier in the Round of 12 at Charlotte, has now earned the most wins of any single driver at a 1.5-mile oval in a single season in NASCAR history with six. He is also the first driver to win on four consecutive mile-and-a-half ovals with his win in the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday. The #78 Toyota led 95 laps en route to victory on Sunday afternoon.
Despite Truex’s emotional victory on Sunday, after losing a crew member overnight on Saturday to a heart attack, perhaps the bigger story was the four drivers who were eliminated from the playoffs. The Round of 8 gets underway at Martinsville next weekend, and four drivers – Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Kyle Larson – will now just be faces in the crowd when it comes to the championship hunt. The biggest surprise among these may be Larson, who many had pegged to be one of the four advancing to the final round.
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The moment that shifted much of the playoff considerations occurred with 70 laps to go when a big wreck occurred on the backstretch. It eliminated many of the title contenders, including the #20 Toyota of Matt Kenseth. His team would be disqualified from continuing after having more than six crew members service his car under the five-minute crash clock.
Following Truex home across the stripe were Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin to round out the top five. Kyle Busch would lead the most laps on the day, but get caught out by a caution and finished tenth. He and Denny Hamlin would combine to win the first two stages.
Here are the full race results from the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (playoff drivers in italics):
- Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, Furniture Row Racing
- Kurt Busch, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
- Ryan Blaney, Ford, Wood Brothers Racing
- Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
- Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, JTG-Daugherty Racing
- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
- Kevin Harvick, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
- Aric Almirola, Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports
- Kyle Busch, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
- Paul Menard, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Brad Keselowski, Ford, Team Penske
- Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
- Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Germain Racing
- David Ragan, Ford, Front Row Motorsports
- Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, Leavine Family Racing
- Clint Bowyer, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
- Trevor Bayne, Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing
- Joey Logano, Ford, Team Penske
- Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, Go Fas Racing
- Landon Cassill, Ford, Front Row Motorsports
- Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, TriStar Motorsports
- Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports
- Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, TMG-Circle Sport Racing
- Corey LaJoie, Toyota, BK Racing
- Gray Gaulding, Toyota, Premium Motorsports
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing
- B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, Rick Ware Racing
- Brett Moffitt, Toyota, BK Racing
- A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, JTG-Daugherty Racing
- Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing
- Erik Jones, Toyota, Furniture Row Racing
- Daniel Suarez, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Danica Patrick, Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing
- Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing
- Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, StarCom Racing
Next: 10 NASCAR drivers who deserve better rides
The next race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will come from the paper clip known as Martinsville Speedway. Who will survive the tiniest track left on the Cup Series calendar to advance to race for the series title? Coverage of the First Data 500 can be seen on Sunday, October 29th on NBCSN.