Richmond NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr wins first win with Joe Gibbs – NASCAR

Martin Truex Jr dominated the final shots with Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer to finally win his first short track victory in the NASCAR Cup Series in Richmond.

The result was also a first victory for the 2017 champion, Truex, since joining Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of last season after the closure of the Furniture Row team with which he won the title.

Truex had not won a short track race in previous 80 attempts, but had led more short track laps than any other driver without a win.

Truex had to resist Bowyer during the 70 laps and, although Bowyer's Ford had much better results in circulation, Truex was able to stay in the lead while Bowyer fainted in the final laps of the race. .

The winner of the second stage, Logano, signed a late challenge for Bowyer and managed to get by with three laps to go. The Stewart-Haas rider overloaded his tires and grazed a wall in the last 15 laps.

Polesitter Kevin Harvick was fourth ahead of Denny Hamlin, the biggest finisher among those who started at the back of the field after failing the pre-race technical check. Austin Dillon posted his best result of the season in sixth position.

Brad Keselowski finished seventh despite a 31-400 lead. With his tight brakes, he was unable to keep pace with the race leaders in the final stage.

Keselowski was still able to restrain Kyle Busch. The points leader won the first leg and led 101 laps, but was hit with a speeding penalty in the pits during a caution period during the second leg.

It only took 80 laps to get back into the top 10, but despite a fast car, he could not make his way through the traffic to get his head back.

Ryan Newman finished ninth, with Paul Menard 10th. The Wood Brothers Racing rider had a solid race, placing in the top 10 for most of the night.

Jimmie Johnson, who will run the Boston Marathon on Monday, is ranked 12th, beating teammates Hendrick, William Byron and Erik Jones, who lost a starting spot on the front row because of his failure during the season. inspection before race.

Daniel Suarez, another victim of differences before the race, had a solid race, going from 33rd to 10th in just 90 laps. He was in the top 10 for most of the night, but a speeding penalty in phase 3 of the green flag pit stop cycle put an end to his hopes for success.

In addition to the end-of-stage warnings and the competition warning on lap 40 attributed to the rain at night, there were two yellows.

The first was caused by Kyle Larson who hit the Turn 1 wall at turn 128 after the fall of his left rear tire.

The second came when Michael McDowell had a similar shot in the same spot, though caused by the deflation of his right rear tire.

Race result

Driver ranking