Truex Finally Wins with Joe Gibbs at Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night for his first win of the season.

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Truex finally broke through to win with Joe Gibbs Racing after switching to the Toyota powerhouse following Furniture Row Racing’s closure at the end of 2018.  Truex came into the race winless, while two of his teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have won five of the first eight races.

Truex said he was excited to finally win with his new team.

“We’re just really excited,” Truex said.  “Everyone at JGR is doing a great job…we’ve been chipping away at it, so hopefully we can get better from here on out.”

Truex led the most laps on Saturday, but he had to hold off Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer over the final 50 laps.

With the laps winding down, Truex said he began to struggle with his car’s handling.

“I was struggling the last 40 laps; had no front turn,” Truex said.  “I was just real tight that last run.  It was real important to be out front tonight, but thanks to the pit crew they kept us out there.”

Logano was able to get to Truex’s bumper on the final lap, but wasn’t able to pass the driver of the No. 19. 

The two have history together; Logano moved Truex on the final lap at the Playoff race in Martinsville last fall, and the move helped Logano win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Logano said the move from last season was on his mind as the race was coming to a close.

“We were close, but not close enough,” Logano said.  “I figured something out there at the end with about 10 laps to go to make up some speed.”

“When you’re frustrated with second, that’s a good sign about where your team’s at.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Joey Logano

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Austin Dillon

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Kyle Busch

9. Ryan Newman

10. Paul Menard

11. Kurt Busch

12. Jimmie Johnson

13. William Byron

14. Erik Jones

15. Chase Elliott

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Alex Bowman

18. Daniel Suarez

19. Daniel Hemric

20. Ryan Preece

21. Ty Dillon

22. Chris Buescher

23. Aric Almirola

24. Matt DiBenedetto

25. Ryan Blaney

26. Corey LaJoie

27. Bubba Wallace

28. David Ragan

29. Matt Tifft

30. Ross Chastain

31. Jeb Burton

32. Bayley Currey

33. Joey Gase

34. Quin Houff

35. Landon Cassill

36. Michael McDowell

37. Kyle Larson

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