NASCAR Cup race results: Martin Truex Jr. wins playoff race at Richmond

Late in the final stage at Richmond, it looked like any one of the four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas could wind up in Victory Lane. Those drivers exchanged the lead for most of the race, but it was Martin Truex Jr. who careened to his fourth victory this season and locked himself into the next round of the NASCAR Cup playoffs.

Denny Hamlin won the first two stages and chased his teammate down from second place in the final laps, but could only cut the lead to 1.4 seconds. Christopher Bell finished third. Kyle Busch, who led 39 laps of 400, lost spots after a late-race speeding penalty and finished in ninth.

Truex won at Phoenix, Martinsville and Darlington earlier this season, the latest of which was in early May. The No. 19 driver led 80 laps on Saturday evening, while Hamlin led nearly half of the laps, a race-high 197. The strong organization-wide finishes comes at a critical time for teams with eight races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series season.

“We knew there was a lot on the line tonight,” Truex said on NBCSN. “Very happy to get to do this and go to Bristol without any worries next week is always fun.”

Truex joins Hamlin and Kyle Larson as drivers advancing to the next round. Larson clinched a berth based on points, NASCAR announced mid-race at Richmond. He finished in sixth behind playoff drivers Chase Elliott and Joey Logano, and noted after the race that his No. 5 Chevrolet, “Probably finished where we deserved.” Logano similarly said that he felt he had a fifth-place running car.

Conversely, Elliott was one of the drivers who had a fast car, but lost positions after a situation on pit road, which was a theme for many playoff teams. Elliott challenged Hamlin for the lead early in the race, but around Lap 185, he pulled deep into his pit box, then backed up to adjust with the jack underneath his car, causing it to get stuck slightly and causing a long pit stop that put him a lap down. He finished the stage with the free pass.

Elliott wasn’t the only playoff contender to go a lap (or more) down. Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Michael McDowell all finished at least one lap down at the Virginia short track. Bowman, Reddick, Byron and McDowell are all in jeopardy of missing the Round of 12 cutoff heading to Bristol next weekend.

McDowell had three speeding penalties, one of which happened as he was serving a penalty for speeding on pit road. Kurt Busch, also in the postseason, crashed out of the race within the first 50 laps. His left rear tire went down and he slammed into the outside wall in Turn 1 hard, totaling his No. 1 Chevy.

Truex wasn’t free from difficulties either. He had to serve a pass-through penalty for beating the leader, Hamlin, to the start line at the beginning of the race. (Larson was slated to start first, but dropped to the rear due to multiple pre-race inspection failures.) Truex called the situation “frustrating” but said that he knew he’d have a good enough car to overcome it.

The only question was whether he’d have a car good enough to overcome Hamlin, who said he needed “just a couple more” laps to close the gap at the end of the race. He said that his No. 11 Toyota team lost a few seconds on pit road during the final stops

“We were coming,” Hamlin said. “Just we got off track with our car right there in the middle stages of the race, but overall (No. 11 crew chief) Chris (Gabehart) and the team made great adjustments there at the end on the FedEx Camry. Just needed a couple more laps. That’s all.”

For Truex, the laps were just enough to seal his 31st career win on a night he called important due to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The track held a pre-race remembrance ceremony, and Truex raced one of the many cars with a patriotic and symbolic pain scheme for the date in front of a crowd that neared capacity in the grandstands that seat more than 45,000 people.

“(We’re) very proud of everybody to be able to do this today,” Truex said.

The Cup Series races next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Bristol Motor Speedway for the cutoff race ahead of the Round of 12.

NASCAR at Richmond race results

(P) playoff driver

This story was originally published September 12, 2021 at 12:02 AM.

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