NASCAR race at Martinsville full results: 3 takeaways from Martin Truex Jr.’s victory

Tires rubbed and corded all over Martinsville Speedway with few cautions to offer reset relief for the top drivers struggling under the lights Wednesday night.

But Martin Truex Jr. wasn’t fazed despite an early penalty on pit road. The No. 19 driver sailed to his first win of the season at the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500.

“We’ve been working a long time on trying to figure this place out,” Truex Jr. told FOX Sports on the broadcast after the race. He won at the same speedway last fall.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski followed in second and third, respectively, at the checkered flag.

NASCAR embraced “new” with the first mid-week evening race at Martinsville and the sanctioning body’s preceding announcement that it would ban the Confederate flag from all events and properties. In that vein, The Observer’s takeaways follow a different format, since teams largely fell into distinct categories.

RED: JOE GIBBS RACING

Struggled early and was unable to regain solid footing until Truex Jr. settled into the lead with 100 laps to go and ran away with the race. He led Blaney by four seconds 20 laps before the checkered flag.

Still, the Toyota drivers dealt with equipment issues throughout the evening; Kyle Busch reported a brake problem, Denny Hamlin’s car got hot and Erik Jones’ hood suffered damage. With fewer than 50 laps left in Stage 2, Truex Jr. was the highest running driver in 20th while Busch and Hamlin raced two laps down.

Truex Jr. was also the only one who secured early stage points, finishing fourth in Stage 1, and dropping back to the bottom half in Stage 2. He was the team’s saving grace in the short-track race that saw few caution flags.

“We’ve had a lot of confidence since really the last couple years we’ve just continued to refine our setup and what we’ve been doing,” Truex Jr. said after the race. “I kind of found the rhythm that I need here.”

YELLOW: HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

The Hendrick Chevrolets looked strong, with the team’s highlight coming off Jimmie Johnson’s first stage win of the season in the second stage. Johnson’s Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman remained flickered through the top-10 during the first two stages, and were able to collectively rack up points for the team. By the final stage, though, the drivers dropped down the field, although all four finished in the top 10.

GREEN: TEAM PENSKE

As a crew, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski dominated when it mattered. Logano won the first stage, finished third in stage 2, and crossed the finish line in fourth. . After the Stage 3 restart, Blaney, who lost his pole position early, raced back to the front and changed with Logano for the lead, while Keselowski ran up into the top three.

“After our first pit stop, we got our car a lot better,” Blaney said after the race. “I think just the green racetrack didn’t really go well with what we had or something, or we really wore our tires. I really had to run the top a lot.”

“We had a great long-run car,” Blaney said about his second place finish in Stage 2. “So that was great to get the lead there at the start of the third stage and just kind of biding our time.”

Still, Team Penske couldn’t catch up to Truex Jr., who said he and his team were just waiting for their first win of the season. On Wednesday night, that moment came.

“It’s been a learning process to figure (short tracks) out,” Truex Jr. said. “For our team, the last five years or so, we’re just continuing to work on the little things it takes to get around these places.”

Other drivers with notable races included RPM driver Bubba Wallace, who placed 11th, and Cup Series rookie Tyler Reddick, who finished 16th and racked up stage points along the way.

NASCAR Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville results

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 11:01 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription