Truex surprises with dominant win in Bristol Truck dirt race

Truex easily got away from Ben Rhodes and Raphael Lessard on a restart with 11 of 150 laps remaining and cruised to a 1.149-second win over Rhodes on the reconfigured Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. He led a race-high 105 laps, including the final 57.

Truex was entered in the event, driving the No. 51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports to get experience for the Cup Series’ first race on dirt in more than 50 years.

The win is Truex’s first win in three Truck starts and he becomes the 36th driver to win at least one race in each of NASCAR’s three national series – Cup, Xfinity and Trucks.

“It’s unbelievable, really. I guess they had to put dirt on Bristol to get me back to Victory Lane here,” Truex said. “It’s been a long time. Man, that was a blast. I’m still really surprised.

“I wanted to run this race because I wanted to get more experience for the Cup car and we got out there in practice and it felt really good. I was having a lot of fun. So, I just kept trying to work with the guys and telling them what I needed.

“That was a blast. I kept thinking, ‘What’s going to happen next? Am I going to get a flat tire or something stupid?’ This No. 51 is pretty much used to being in Victory Lane, so a lot of pressure there.”

Lessard finished third, Todd Gilliland was fourth and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Grant Enfinger, Zane Smith, Parker Kligerman, Austin Hill and Austin Wayne Self.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, Enfinger and Chase Purdy remained on the track while the rest of the field took advantage of the controlled pit stops.

The race returned to green on Lap 93 with Enfinger out front followed by Purdy, Truex and Rhodes.

On Lap 94, Truex battled through Enfinger and Rhodes to return to the race lead.

Mike Marlar fell off the pace on Lap 99 with a flat tire but remained high on the track. Kyle Larson plowed into the back of Marlar in an incident that also collected Brett Moffitt and Danny Bohn.

The race was red flagged for nearly six minutes to clean the track of debris. When the race resumed on Lap 108, Truex led the way.

Chandler Smith spun off Turn 2 on Lap 119, came down the track and piled into the No. 13 Toyota of Johnny Sauter to bring out the 11th caution of the race.

Truex continued to lead when the race returned to green on Lap 126.

Andrew Gordon spun off Turn 4 on Lap 132 and backed into the safety barrels covering the end of the wall near the entrance to pit road. Truex continued to pace the field when the race returned to green on Lap 139.

Stage 2

Truex held off Rhodes on a six-lap dash to the finish to earn the Stage 2 win and complete a sweep of both stage victories.

Hill was third, Briscoe was fourth and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, most teams took part in the controlled pit stops but Stewart Friesen and John Hunter Nemechek remained on the track and led the way when the race returned to green on Lap 43.

Zane Smith had to restart from the rear of the field as his team took on fuel before changing tires. Sauter went to the rear for working beyond the 3-minute clock.

Truex got around Friesen to reclaim the lead on Lap 43.

On Lap 49, Nemechek went around in Turns 1 and 2 and several seconds later, Derek Kraus slammed into him and Timothy Peters got caught up in the incident as well.

“Matt (Crafton) just flat ran over me. That one will be in the memory bank,” Nemechek said. “The 19 (Kraus), I guess he and his spotter both need a pair of glasses. I’ll have them ready for them at Richmond.”

The race was placed under a red flag for just over seven minutes to clean fluid off the track surface. The race returned to green on Lap 58 with Truex still in command.

Jennifer Jo Cobb spun off Turn 2 on Lap 63 to bring out another caution and did some damage to her No. 10 Chevrolet. The race resumed on Lap 69 with Truex still out front.

Norm Benning stopped on the track in Turn 1 on Lap 70 and immediately continued on after the caution was displayed. NASCAR held Benning in his pit stall for intentionally causing a caution. The race returned to green on Lap 76.

Rhodes quickly powered to the lead as he, Truex and Creed raced for the lead. Truex got back around Rhodes to reclaim the lead on Lap 78.

Myatt Snider spun off Turn 4 on Lap 80 to bring out a caution. The race returned to green on Lap 85.

Stage 1

Truex got around the outside of Creed exiting Turn 4 and took the Stage 1 win in a one-lap dash to the finish.

Zane Smith finished third, Friesen was fourth and Nemechek rounded out the top-five.

Nemechek started on the pole but Creed quickly moved into the lead on Lap 2 and began pulling away.

On Lap 13, NASCAR displayed the first caution of the race after Tanner Gray spun around between Turns 3 and 4.

The race returned to green on Lap 18 with Creed out front followed by Friesen and Hill.

With 20 laps to go in the first stage, Creed remained out front but was having to fend off Friesen, Hill and Matt Crafton for the lead.

Carson Hocevar spun on the frontstretch on Lap 27 to bring out another caution. The race resumed on Lap 32.

Chandler Smith spun in Turns 1 and 2 and got hit by Tyler Ankrum on Lap 35 to bring out another caution. The race returned to green with one lap remaining in the stage.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	51	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	150	1:26'12.893			105
2	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	150	1:26'14.042	1.149	1.149	3
3	24	Raphael Lessard	Chevrolet	150	1:26'17.195	4.302	3.153
4	38	Todd Gilliland	Ford	150	1:26'17.587	4.694	0.392
5	04	Chase Briscoe	Ford	150	1:26'18.997	6.104	1.410
6	98	Grant Enfinger	Ford	150	1:26'20.015	7.122	1.018	2
7	21	Zane Smith	Chevrolet	150	1:26'20.339	7.446	0.324
8	75	Parker Kligerman	Chevrolet	150	1:26'20.609	7.716	0.270
9	16	Austin Hill	Toyota	150	1:26'20.866	7.973	0.257	1
10	22	Austin Wayne Self	Chevrolet	150	1:26'21.205	8.312	0.339
11	11	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	150	1:26'21.466	8.573	0.261
12	52	Stewart Friesen	Toyota	150	1:26'21.992	9.099	0.526	1
13	15	Tanner Gray	Ford	150	1:26'22.173	9.280	0.181
14	88	Matt Crafton	Ford	150	1:26'22.727	9.834	0.554
15	17	Kevin Harvick	Ford	150	1:26'22.995	10.102	0.268
16	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	150	1:26'23.136	10.243	0.141	38
17	02	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	150	1:26'23.469	10.576	0.333
18	23	Chase Purdy	Chevrolet	150	1:26'23.813	10.920	0.344
19	1	Hailie Deegan	Ford	150	1:26'24.039	11.146	0.226
20	40	Ryan Truex	Chevrolet	150	1:26'24.822	11.929	0.783
21	42	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	150	1:26'25.111	12.218	0.289
22	33	Myatt Snider	Toyota	150	1:26'25.289	12.396	0.178
23	12	Tate Fogleman	Chevrolet	150	1:26'25.770	12.877	0.481
24	45	Brett Moffitt	Chevrolet	150	1:26'26.606	13.713	0.836
25	20	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	150	1:26'30.318	17.425	3.712
26	41	Cody Erickson	Chevrolet	150	1:26'31.093	18.200	0.775
27	9	Codie Rohrbaugh	Chevrolet	150	1:26'31.726	18.833	0.633
28	56	Mike Marlar	Chevrolet	148	1:26'32.411	2 Laps	2 Laps
29	34	Jake Griffin	Toyota	147	1:26'27.318	3 Laps	1 Lap
30	25	Timothy Peters	Chevrolet	147	1:26'28.486	3 Laps	1.168
31	49	Andrew Gordon	Chevrolet	144	1:26'30.617	6 Laps	3 Laps
32	13	Johnny Sauter	Ford	124	1:12'44.995	26 Laps	20 Laps
33	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Chevrolet	120	1:09'15.704	30 Laps	4 Laps
34	18	Chandler Smith	Toyota	117	1:07'08.358	33 Laps	3 Laps
35	44	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	98	55'41.542	52 Laps	19 Laps
36	30	Danny Bohn	Toyota	98	55'43.061	52 Laps	1.519
37	6	Norm Benning	Chevrolet	72	45'53.127	78 Laps	26 Laps
38	19	Derek Kraus	Toyota	49	27'57.325	101 Laps	23 Laps
39	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	48	23'46.762	102 Laps	1 Lap
40	26	Tyler Ankrum	Chevrolet	34	15'59.231	116 Laps	14 Laps