Martin Truex Jr.’s late-race pass of teammate Denny Hamlin key in Martinsville win

Rain postponed NASCAR’s original Saturday night racing plans, but the Cup Series wrapped at Martinsville under the lights anyway on Sunday.

Despite Denny Hamlin’s best efforts to fend off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr. swiped the lead with 15 laps left to win his second race of the season, outdistancing Hamlin and runner-up Chase Elliott for the checkered flag.

“For whatever reason our car really turned on when the lights went down,” Truex said after the race.

Truex scores Martinsville win as Hamlin’s lead fades

Truex held a two second lead over the field at the flag to win his third race at the short-track in Ridgeway, Virginia, in three years. He also won last year’s Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500.

Hamlin led a race-high 276 laps of the 500-lap event, but his lead faded in the closing laps, and Elliott passed him for second place before the checkered flag. Hamlin finished in third.

“We had a really good short-run car. We just didn’t have a good long-run car,” Hamlin said.

He described after the race how his No. 11 Toyota team has been close to winning races but hasn’t demonstrated the early dominance the group had last year. Strong restarts still kept Hamlin out front following nine cautions peppered throughout the final stage (17 cautions total). He lost the first-place spot to Truex coming off pit road in the final 50 laps, but he quickly regained the position after the green flag. But as the race wore on, Hamlin’s car tightened up and slowed at the finish.

“We’ve just been next-best,” Hamlin said, adding that his team’s plan this week is to consult with the No. 19 team about their setups based on their recent success.

Truex won at Phoenix earlier this season and he becomes the first repeat winner this year after a string of different winners characterized the opening races of 2021. He said he feels “really good” about his team and the group’s prospects to contend for a championship this season.

Blaney sweeps stages

Atlanta race winner Ryan Blaney dominated early laps Sunday before Hamlin controlled the final stage. Blaney led 156 laps and swept both stages of the race, often battling Hamlin for the top spot. Blaney started Sunday in third place behind Hamlin in first but was able to complete his pass on Lap 75 and held the lead through the Stage 1 finish.

Hamlin regained the lead early in the second stage, but Blaney was back to first place by Lap 175 and the two drivers dueled through the second-stage finish, racing side-by-side, but Blaney held onto his advantage to clinch another stage win.

Differing pit strategy then put Blaney, who pitted, behind Hamlin, who stayed out to inherit the lead. The decision by the No. 11 team paid off after a caution flew shortly afterward and Hamlin took on new tires. He maintained the lead with strong restarts after the many cautions, which included “The Big One” on Lap 387 that red-flagged the race.

The Paperclip delivers drama

A Talladega-style crash — complete with ballooning flames — evolved Sunday at the paperclip-shaped short-track. Contact between Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher mid-pack forced a major pileup, “The Big One,” in Turn 2 during the final stage. Busch’s car went for a spin and emerged shredded on the right side, but he remained in the race. Others didn’t fare as well.

Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suárez were among the drivers involved in the 15-car pileup, and they exited the event with heavy damage. Suárez nearly completed the loop around the track before his No. 99 Chevrolet erupted in smoke. He exited his flaming vehicle in Turn 1, intent to make his displeasure with a certain driver known, but that driver wasn’t anyone involved in the wreck.

Suárez threw a water bottle at the passing car of William Byron. He later said that he disliked how Byron shoved him on the track to contribute to him falling back and into the mess of crashing cars.

“I race people the way they race me,” Suárez told PRN. “He’ll have one coming.”

As for the accident itself, Suárez said there was nothing he could do but slam on the brakes as the pileup occurred. Others agreed it was tough to miss hitting anyone in the close quarters.

“That’s just part of the short-track deal,” Keselowski said.

The Cup Series returns to another short track at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, next Sunday at 3 p.m., where more drama is likely to ensue.

Race results

This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 8:26 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