NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Picture: Martin Truex Jr. gets back to Miami

Martin Truex Jr. became the first driver to lock himself into the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with his victory at Martinsville Speedway.

For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. earned himself a grandfather clock by winning at Martinsville Speedway, as he took the checkered flag to win the First Data 500.

Truex locked up a berth in the Championship 4 with his dominant victory in this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia.

Truex’s Championship 4 berth is his fourth in the last five seasons and his third in a row, and for the first time in his career, he locked himself into the Championship 4 by winning one of the three races in the round of 8.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

Entering this race, he had never won at any of the tracks on the round of 8 schedule. The two remaining races of the round are scheduled to take place at Texas Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway, respectively.

Truex was the only round of 8 driver who finished in the top three, and the highest finishing round of 8 driver aside of him, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, was involved in an off-track altercation with another round of 8 driver, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, after the race. Hamlin finished in fourth place and Logano finished in eighth, although Logano’s eighth place finish came after he had to rally, as contact with Hamlin caused one of his tires to go down, sending him spinning.

The other round of 8 drivers all finished in the top 14 except for Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who started off with a mechanical error for the second consecutive round.

After qualifying in second place but starting in the back of the field due to an engine change following the fiery expiration of his engine in the opening practice session for the race, he made his way up into the top five before a broken axle mired him 55 laps off the lead lap.

He finished in 36th place and now sits in eighth (last) in the playoff picture, 44 points below the Championship 4 cut line.

Here is the NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture following the 2019 First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Manufacturer: Points (Behind), Playoff Points (Rank)
1st – Martin Truex Jr. – #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota: 1 WIN (IN), 49 (1st)
2nd – Denny Hamlin – #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota: 4082 (+24), 37 (3rd)
3rd – Kyle Busch – #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota: 4075 (+17), 46 (2nd)
4th – Joey Logano – #22, Team Penske, Ford: 4072 (+14), 30 (4th)
————————— CHAMPIONSHIP 4 CUT LINE —————————
5th – Kevin Harvick – #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford: 4058 (-14), 28 (5th)
6th – Ryan Blaney – #12, Team Penske, Ford: 4057 (-15), 9 (8th)
7th – Kyle Larson – #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet: 4048 (-24), 11 (7th)
8th – Chase Elliott – #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet: 4028 (-44), 24 (6th)

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

The AAA Texas 500 is the next race on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoff schedule, and it is scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 3. NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast this race live from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series