NASCAR’s series of different winners to start the 2021 season ended at seven.
Martin Truex Jr. achieved its second win of the season at Martinsville on Sunday to become the first rider to win two races in 2021. Truex lost the lead over his teammate Denny Hamlin by resuming 42 laps, but Hamlin ran and passed him with 15 laps left after running four laps side by side.
Truex had a better car on longer runs. While Hamlin could easily drive away after the recharge, Truex confidently overtook him and chased him away for the win. Chase Elliott overtook Hamlin for second place with six rounds to go.
“It was getting dark and she was coming to life,” Truex said of his car.
The win is Truex’s third in four Martinsville races. He won the first race of 2020 at Martinsville and also won in the fall of 2019. That June race at Martinsville in 2020 was a night race. Sunday’s race had to take place on Saturday night, but the rain was requested after only 42 laps were completed.
Truex won earlier this season at Phoenix. An Elliott or Hamlin victory on Sunday would have been eight winners in eight races to kick off the 2021 Cup Series season.
Hamlin led 276 of the 500 laps in the race. Throw 20 laps led by Truex and nine laps led by Christopher Bell and Joe Gibbs Racing cars led 305 laps.
Blaney’s penalty increases the chances of a victory
Ryan Blaney finished second when the final warning of the race was left with less than 50 laps. And he started 19th again after the warning because he ran over his team’s air hose during their last pit stop.
Blaney drove to 11th place towards the end of the race to achieve a decent finish. But he had a good chance of a win without the penalty kick – even though his team lost three points on the pit road without the penalty kick.
Blaney led 157 laps. He was the only driver other than Hamlin to lead more than 100 laps.
Lots of damaged cars
The race contained 17 warnings – a not uncommon amount of warnings for a race in Martinsville. And many drivers were involved in the warnings.
Eighteen of the 37 riders in Sunday’s race were involved in at least one warning. Managers such as Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch were involved in several warnings. And they both finished in the top 12.
Busch finishes 10th while DiBenedetto is 12th.
What’s the matter with the Rick Ware cars?
The eighth-man team, Rick Ware Racing, has placed all four cars in the top-30. It’s an achievement for a team that runs as cheaply as possible and that its cars are not jumped shortly after the green flag is flown every week.
But it also had two riders unhappy with each other throughout the course of the race. James Davison (22nd) was the first warning of the race on Saturday night when he turned the bumper of teammate Cody Ware (28th). And it sure seemed like Ware’s turn from Davison was deliberate.
Ware was then involved in the course of a few warnings. And social reports about the radio conversations between the Davison and Ware teams showed tension between the two teams.
Race results
Martin Truex Jr.
2. Chase Elliott
Denny Hamlin
4. William Byron
Kyle Larson
Joey Logano
Christopher Bell
8. Tyler Reddick
Kevin Harvick
Kyle Busch
Ryan Blaney
12. Matt DiBenedetto
Chris Buescher
14. Austin Dillon
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16. Bubba Wallace
17. Ross Chastain
18. Cole Custer
19. Ryan Newman
20. Aric Almirola
21. Kurt Busch
22. James Davison
Josh Bilicki
24. Quin Houff
25. JJ Yeley
Anthony Alfredo
27. Chase Briscoe
28. Cody Ware
29. BJ McLeod
30. Erik Jones
31. Michael McDowell
32. Daniel Suarez
33. Brad Keselowski
34. Alex Bowman
35. Justin Haley
36. Ryan Preece
37. Corey LaJoie
Score
1. Denny Hamlin, 379 points
Martin Truex Jr., 303
Joey Logano, 302
Kyle Larson, 280
Ryan Blaney, 272
6. William Byron, 270
7. Chase Elliott, 260
Kevin Harvick, 253
Brad Keselowski, 244
10. Christopher Bell, 217
Kyle Busch, 212
12. Austin Dillon, 209
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 202
14. Chris Buescher, 192
15. Kurt Busch, 190
16. Michael McDowell, 189
Alex Bowman, 185
18. Ryan Newman, 167
19. Bubba Wallace, 157
Ryan Preece, 155