NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. overcomes penalty to win at Martinsville

Martin Truex Jr. secured his first victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season at Martinsville Speedway in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. became the seventh different winner through the first 11 races of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season by overcoming a penalty and dominating the third and final stage of the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the first ever night race at the track.

The four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia is where Truex secured his seventh and final victory of the 2019 season late last October. After going winless in his first 27 starts at the venue, he has now made Martinsville “Martin’s Ville” twice in a row.

Truex, who started the race in fifth place, was forced to overcome a penalty for a commitment line violation that sent his #19 Toyota to the rear of the field to secure his 27th career victory.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

On lap 370 of the 500-lap race, he took the lead from Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and never looked back. He ended up winning by 4.705 seconds ahead of Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in second place in his #12 Ford.

Blaney himself had to overcome multiple issues after starting the race from the pole position. He found himself a lap off the lead lap early on in the race, even after starting from the pole position, and was able to battle his way back to the lead.

He was then forced to battle back from a late pit road penalty as well after a crew member came over the wall too soon. His second place finish is tied for his best of the season, as he opened up the year with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway back in mid-February.

Keselowski, who won last year’s spring race at the track, also went a lap off the lead lap early but was able to battle back en route to a third place finish in his #2 Ford.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 224 laps led and had both of his teammates more than a lap behind him at one point, ended up finishing as the lowest of the three Team Penske drivers in fourth place in his #22 Ford after winning the first stage.

Hendrick Motorsports placed all four of their drivers in the top 10, with Chase Elliott leading the way for Chevrolet in fifth place in his #9 Chevrolet. Alex Bowman finished in sixth in his #88 Chevrolet, William Byron tied his season-high finish with an eighth place result in his #24 Chevrolet and Jimmie Johnson finished in 10th in his #48 Chevrolet after winning the second stage.

Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto finished in seventh place in his #21 Ford while Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch finished in ninth in his #1 Chevrolet.

Truex was the only Toyota driver who finished in the top 18. Teammate Kyle Busch finished in 19th place in his #18 Toyota, one lap off the lead lap, after what ended up being a race to forget for him.

With this year’s new short track package, the race featured 14 lead changes among eight drivers. By comparison, last year’s two 500-lap races at Martinsville Speedway featured a total of six lead changes, and four of those lead changes took place in the pits.

Truex led 132 laps en route to the victory, trailing only Logano in that category. The six other race leaders were Johnson, Blaney, Keselowski, Elliott, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola and Go Fas Racing’s Corey LaJoie.

The race only featured seven caution flag periods, quite a small amount compared to the 17 that the most recent short track race at Bristol Motor Speedway featured two Sundays ago. Three of these seven caution flag periods were planned, with one competition caution and two to end the race’s first two stages.

Of the 39 drivers who competed in the race, four failed to finish it. Of the 35 drivers who did finish the race, 14 finished on the lead lap. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick finished in a season-low 15th place in his #4 Ford, marking his first finish off the lead lap in 2020.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Martin Truex Jr.
2nd – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Brad Keselowski
4th – Joey Logano
5th – Chase Elliott
6th – Alex Bowman
7th – Matt DiBenedetto
8th – William Byron
9th – Kurt Busch
10th – Jimmie Johnson
11th – Bubba Wallace
12th – Ryan Newman
13th – Chris Buescher
14th – Michael McDowell
15th – Kevin Harvick
16th – Tyler Reddick
17th – Clint Bowyer
18th – Corey LaJoie
19th – Kyle Busch
20th – Erik Jones
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22nd – Ty Dillon
23rd – Matt Kenseth
24th – Denny Hamlin
25th – John Hunter Nemechek
26th – Ryan Preece
27th – Daniel Suarez
28th – Christopher Bell
29th – Cole Custer
30th – Brennan Poole
31st – J.J. Yeley
32nd – David Starr
33rd – Aric Almirola
34th – Quin Houff
35th – Joey Gase
36th – Garrett Smithley
37th – Austin Dillon
38th – Reed Sorenson
39th – Timmy Hill

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

The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Dixie Vodka 400, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 14.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series