Martin Truex Jr. first spins, then wins Richmond Cup race

Truex passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 25 of 400 laps remaining in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and held on for his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series playoff victory.

The win did not come easy as Truex overcame getting spun out while leading the race on Lap 315.

It’s his sixth victory of the season and 20th of his career and the first time in his career he’s won back-to-back races. Truex also won last weekend’s playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"I don't even know what to say, I really don't," Truex said after the race. "I'm speechless. We did an unbelievable job, just all my guys. Everybody back at the shop - you guys are just building unbelievable race cars right now.

"I had a heck of a race with Kyle and Denny all night long really. I don't know, we kept plugging away at it, kept plugging away at it. That's what we always do - keep digging and never quit. The next thing you know we're catching (Busch) and I was like, 'Awe, cool, here we go.'

"To sweep both Richmond races is pretty awesome with as much as we led here coming into this year. Just thanks to everybody - it's pretty amazing."

Asked how he overcame the spin out to still win, Truex said: "Luckily I didn't hit anything.  I just tried to keep it off the fence, tried to get spun around and get going, and we ended up ‑‑ because we were pretty far up front, we got going in a pretty good spot and left pit road in a good position.

"Then good adjustments at the end again by (crew chief) Cole (Pearn). This is just freaking unbelievable, so we came here to get bonus points and damn sure we did that."

Denny Hamlin finished third and Erik Jones was fourth as JGR swept the top four finishing positions for the first time in the organization’s history.

UPDATE: Erik Jones disqualified after failing post-race inspection

Brad Keselowski ended up fifth, Ryan Newman sixth, Kyle Larson seventh, Kevin Harvick eighth, Clint Bowyer ninth and Daniel Suarez completed the top-10.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all of the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Kyle Busch once again the first off pit road.

Both Kurt Busch and William Byron were penalized for speeding on pit road during their stops and had to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart on Lap 210, Kyle Busch was followed by Truex, Hamlin, Keselowski and Jones.

Reed Sorenson got in the Turn 2 wall on Lap 243 to bring out a caution. All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Keselowski the first off pit road. 

Jimmie Johnson missed his pit stall the first time around and had to pit again. Aric Almirola was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart on Lap 251, Keselowski was followed by Kyle Busch, Truex, Hamlin and Newman.

On Lap 253, Newman had powered his way into the third position and began challenging Truex for the second spot.

On Lap 267, Kyle Busch retook the third position from Newman as Keselowski continued to hold a small but steady lead over Truex.

With 125 laps to go, Truex continued to remain behind Keselowski waiting for a chance to make a pass for the lead with Kyle Busch running third.

Truex cleared Keselowski off Turn 4 on Lap 282 to reclaim the lead in the race.

After 300 laps, Truex had built a more than 2-second lead over Kyle Busch. Keselowski ran third, Hamlin fourth and Jones fifth.

On Lap 312, several lead-lap cars began a round of green-flag pit stops to get new tires and enough fuel to make it to the finish of the race.

Truex spun off Turn 4 on Lap 315 after contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to bring out a caution. Stenhouse had just pit and had four fresh tires. Kyle Busch inherited the lead at the line.

All of the lead-lap cars hit pit road for their final stops with Kyle Busch the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 322, Busch was followed by Hamlin, Truex, Keselowski and Larson.

With 50 laps to go, Kyle Busch maintained about a 1.4-second lead over Hamlin as Truex continued to run in third. Keselowski was fourth and Newman fifth.

On Lap 356, Truex got around Hamlin to move into the second spot, 1.2-seconds behind leader Kyle Busch.

With 30 to go, Truex had cut Kyle Busch’s lead to about half-a-second. Hamlin ran third, Keselowski fourth and Jones moved back into fifth.

Truex finally got around Busch with 25 laps remaining to reclaim the lead.

With 10 laps remaining, Truex had moved out to almost a 2-second lead over Kyle Busch with Hamlin in third and Jones in fourth.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	400		109
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	400	2.630	202
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	400	5.801
4	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	400	8.960
5	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	400	11.676	90
6	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	400	12.513
7	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	400	14.625
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	400	16.477
9	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	400	17.786
10	41	Daniel Suarez	Ford	400	18.361
11	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	400	18.789
12	22	Joey Logano	Ford	400	23.391
13	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	400	24.846
14	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	399	1 lap
15	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	399	1 lap
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	399	1 lap
17	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	399	1 lap
18	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	399	1 lap
19	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	398	2 laps
20	38	David Ragan	Ford	398	2 laps
21	36	Matt Tifft	Ford	397	3 laps
22	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	397	3 laps
23	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	396	4 laps
24	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	396	4 laps
25	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	396	4 laps
26	8	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	396	4 laps
27	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	396	4 laps
28	21	Paul Menard	Ford	395	5 laps
29	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	395	5 laps
30	32	Corey Lajoie	Ford	395	5 laps
31	47	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	394	6 laps
32	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	393	7 laps
33	51	Austin Theriault	Chevrolet	392	8 laps
34	52	J.J. Yeley	Ford	391	9 laps
35	53	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	388	12 laps
36	27	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	384	16 laps
37	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	265	135 laps
38	77	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	233	167 laps