Martin Truex Jr.’s dominance in the NASCAR Cup Series round of 8 playoff race at Martinsville Speedway was historic in more ways than one.
Just over 18 miles of the First Data 500 were led by a driver not named Martin Truex Jr., who went on to win the race in his #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to become the first driver to secure himself a spot in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Truex led 464 of the 500 laps, in spurts of 223 laps and 241 laps, around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia to secure his series-high seventh victory of the season and his series-high third victory of the playoffs.
This race featured only three lead changes among three drivers, and two of these three lead changes took place solely due to the fact that Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson didn’t pit toward the end of stage two to gain stage points. Truex ended up passing him for the lead before the stage ended.
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Truex only won the race by 0.373 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron in second place, but the overall dominance that he displayed in the race hadn’t been seen in decades.
No driver had led 464 laps at Martinsville Speedway since Richard Petty led 480 of the 500 laps in the Old Dominion 500 in October of 1970, nearly five decades ago. Between then and now, 97 races took place at the “Paperclip”.
No driver had led 464 laps at any race track since Kyle Petty led 484 of the 492 laps in the AC Delco 500 at Rockingham Speedway in October of 1992.
Three lead changes is also tied for the lowest lead change total in a race at Martinsville, or “Martin’s Ville”, as some have started to call it, since September of 1967, when the Old Dominion 500 featured three lead changes and was also won by Petty. Between then and now, 103 races took place at the track.
It is tied with the race at the track in March, which was won by Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, in this category.
The last time any Cup Series race featured a lead change total of three or less, aside of the aforementioned race won by Keselowski, was back in September of 2000 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Jeff Burton took the lead from race polesitter Bobby Labonte on the opening lap and went on to lead all 300 laps of the Dura Lube 300.
Considering the fact that Keselowski was nearly as dominant in the March race at the track with 442 laps led in a race that also featured only three lead changes among three leaders and his win was pretty much just as historic as Truex’s (at the time), there is certainly a case to be made that a lot of this can be chalked up to the new rules package for short tracks.
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old Mayetta, New Jersey native put on a dominant display, the likes of which fans haven’t seen in decades at Martinsville Speedway or any other track.
Will Martin Truex Jr. parlay this dominance at Martinsville Speedway into his second career NASCAR Cup Series championship? The 2017 champion is locked into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, November 17.