Even a late caution wasn’t enough for the field to catch Martin Truex Jr., who scored a dominating Monster Energy Cup Series win Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.
NASCAR Kentucky 2017 results: Martin Truex Jr. wins Quaker State 400
The Furniture Row Racing driver swept all three stages and led a race-high 152 laps in earning his third victory of the season.
Truex took the first two stages and held a double-digit second over second-place Kyle Busch with two lap remaining in the Quaker State 400 when a caution for Kurt Busch’s engine failure erased Truex’s sizeable advantage. But on the ensuing restart, Truex got the jump over Kyle Busch, who had pitted for two fresh tires while Truex did not, and pulled away to secure the win.
“I thought we were dead,” Truex said of not pitting for fresh tires. “I thought we were done. It’s just completely unbelievable.”
Kyle Larson finished second, with Chase Elliott in third. Denny Hamlin and Busch completed the top five, with rookie Erik Jones sixth, Jamie McMurray seventh, Joey Logano eighth, Kevin Harvick ninth, and Ryan Blaney 10th.
Larson’s runner-up came after the Chip Ganassi Racing driver had to start at the rear of the 40-car field when his Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying inspection on Friday. He quickly moved his way to the front and was inside the top 10 by the completion of the first stage, only to incur a speeding penalty on pit road that require he again fall to the back.
Larson, who has two wins on the season, still leads the series points standings, with Truex in second trailing by a single point. Busch is third, 101 points behind.
“We weren’t able to qualify, didn’t pass tech, but knew we’d be all right,” Larson said. “I felt like I could roll through [Turns] 3 and 4 good in practice, and I felt like that would be the place to pass. Turned out to be that way in the race, and cruised to the front the first time, got to third at the end of that first stage, sped on pit road, had to go to the back again.
“Got to second, and then, yeah, finished second. Good race. Car was fast. Wish we could have competed with Martin, but he was obviously extremely fast. We all have some work to do to keep up with him.”
Truex led a race-high 152 laps in recording his third win of the 2017 season, equaling Jimmie Johnson for series-best. All three of Truex’s win have come on 1.5-mile tracks, the same sized track as half the speedways in the 10-race playoffs, making the Furniture Row Racing driver the championship favorite.
Truex has already amassed 28 playoff points with eight regular season races remaining. No other driver has more than 16 points.
“You can’t have enough [playoff points],” said Cole Pearn, Truex’s crew chief. “I mean, the best way to get a lead is to keep winning them and not let other people win them. … The more we can get, the better.”
Afterward, Truex and longtime girlfriend Sherry Pollex revealed that Pollex wasn’t at the track this weekend due to a recent medical procedure. As Truex reveled on Kentucky’s frontstretch, Pollex tweeted a photo of herself in the hospital holding a sign celebrating her boyfriend’s win.
Pollex has battled ovarian cancer that had been in remission. Truex said Pollex experienced a recurrence but she recently completed successful surgery.
“Everything went perfectly good, went as planned,” Truex said “I’m bringing her home tomorrow, so I’m excited to see her and everything’s going great. She was pretty excited.”
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