'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAYACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABfAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAUQAAMAAQUAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwAEBQYREiEiQQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwYRAAIDAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAAMRMVGB/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwDNjzcaWW48hjow9Gmi+XbyCJqjMOl+B2MmvbbnvVtTN6XZ2NXCgBnJ+xA7/TjGJWzPbYCTgC57KdMStcA46E//2Q=='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
In the closing laps of Monday's NASCAR Cup Series race, Martin Truex Jr. held off Ross Chastain to snap a 54-race winless streak and earn his fourth career victory at Dover Motor Speedway.
With 14 laps remaining, Joey Logano wrecked, leaving Truex Jr. in the lead and Chastain in second place to navigate lapped traffic. With seven laps remaining, Truex stopped for two tires but kept the lead going into the restart.
Ryan Blaney led the field off the restart, while Chastain began third behind him. Blaney immediately gave Truex a strong push for the lead. But after the restart, Truex overtook Blaney and kept a half-second lead over Chastain for the remaining five laps.
Truex missed the NASCAR playoffs in 2022 for the first time since 2014 as a result of his winless season. Nearly ten years ago, Truex experienced his first winless campaign with Furniture Row Racing after Michael Waltrip Racing lost NAPA, Truex's longtime sponsor, as a result of their race-fixing scandal at Richmond in 2013.
"...Just thanks to everybody that stuck with me. … we knew we could do this. We’ve shown we can lead laps and have dominated races and it just never all came together. I’ve said we just had to keep doing what we were doing and not overthink it.” Martin Truex Jr after the race.
The victory ends Truex's 54-race winless run and comes two days after his brother Ryan took home the first Xfinity Series victory of his career at Dover on Saturday. Truex's last win came at Richmond in September 2021.
Martin Truex Jr. takes his fourth victory at Dover
Martin Truex Jr. eventually ended his 54-race winless drought on Monday at Dover Motor Speedway, but it took an extra day. Interestingly, this was Truex's third victory in a Monday race at the Monster Mile, and his fourth win at the track overall.
After his brother Ryan took first place in the Xfinity race on Saturday, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver completed a family weekend sweep. The 2017 Cup winner now has 32 victories under his belt, his first since Richmond in 2021.
The previous winners at Dover are as follows:
2022: Chase Elliott
2021: Alex Bowman
2020: Kevin Harvick
2020: Denny Hamlin
2019: Kyle Larson
2019: Martin Truex Jr
2018: Chase Elliott
2018: Kevin Harvick
2017: Kyle Busch
2017: Jimmie Johnson
2016: Martin Truex Jr
2016: Matt Kenseth
2015: Kevin Harvick
2015: Jimmie Johnson
2014: Jeff Gordon
2014: Jimmie Johnson
