Teenage Mutant Turtles 400 result: Martin Truex Jr. wins at Chicagoland
By Ted Fleming
Furniture Row No. 78 Chevy is the first car to clinch a spot in the Round of 12 after Truex ran away with the race in overtime.
Martin Truex Jr. has advance to the Round of 12 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after a stirring come from behind victory in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway Sunday afternoon.
“Oh my goodness, I guess the racing gods don’t want us to lead too much,” said Truex. “What can I say about everyone at Furniture Row Racing, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Bass Pro Shops, Denver Mattresses — just everybody that makes this possible. Sprint, the fans have given us a ton of support, not only over the years but the last two has definitely helped us. This feels good.”
“We have more races to win,” Truex contined. “The more we can win the better. What can I say? There are so many people who are responsible for this and I’m glad I get to drive this 78 with Cole Pearn (crew chief) and everybody on this team.”
Truex was trying to catch leader Chase Elliott in the final laps and was more than a second back until Michael McDowell blew a tire with just two laps left. Truex and Elliott pitted to get new tires, but when they came out of pit row they found three cars — Ryan Blaney, Kasey Kahne, and Carl Edwards — had stayed out, leaving both to start fourth and fifth, respectively, for overtime.
Elliott was pinned in at the start, but Truex managed to go high and passed the three leaders by the time the field hit the overtime line, eventually pulling away for the win. Elliott was on the way taking his first Sprint Cup checkered flag in a car he finished twice in at Michigan. The final caution was just the fourth of the day which tied a record for the fewest. Elliott would’ve wanted to set the new mark, which would have let him head to victory lane, only to finish a disappointing third.
“Expect nothing is yours until it’s over,” said Elliott. “I mean, that is part of life, man. You are not dumb, we have all watched this stuff long enough we know these races don’t go green that long. We see more cautions come out at the end of these races than we do not.”
Joey Logano also managed to advance his position on the restart to finish second, saying it was due to a great pit stop.
“It was awesome execution by the 22 team,” he said. “From every angle. We had a very fast race car and were awesome on pit road. You want to talk about pressure, not just Chase pressure, but coming down at the end of the race to try to win, they executed and had an awesome pit stop and beat the 11 out and ultimately gives us a second place finish.”
After one of three first round events, Austin Dillon (-1), Kevin Harvick (-1), Kyle Larson (-2) and Chris Buescher (-12) are outside the Round of 12. New Hampshire and Dover are up next.
Next: Erik Jones notches fourth Xfinity Series win of season at Chicagoland
PIT NOTES:
Alex Bowman, who is filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88, had a solid afternoon, finishing 10th.
Jimmie Johnson entered the race as the all-time leader in wins on a mile and a half racetrack with 25. He would lead the most laps, but finished 12th.
Kevin Harvick was forced to start at the back of the field due to unauthorized body modifications and finished 20th, one lap down.
Team Chevy had the most cars start the race with 22, but only three finished in the top-10.
CAUTIONS:
Lap 49 – Loose tire on pit row. Clint Boyer gets free pass.
Lap 120 – Brian Scott spins out. AJ Allmendinger gets free pass.
Lap 191 – Debris on track. Tony Stewart gets free pass.
Lap 263 – Michael McDowell blows tire. Tony Stewart gets free pass.
DRIVE FOR SAFETY 300 FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Martin Truex Jr.
2 – Joey Logano
3 – Chase Elliott
4 – Ryan Blaney
5 – Brad Keselowski
6 – Denny Hamlin
7 – Kasey Kahne
8 – Kyle Busch
9 – Matt Kenseth
10 – Alex Bowman
11 – Jamie McMurray
12 – Jimmie Johnson
13 – Kurt Busch
14 – Austin Dillon
15 – Carl Edwards
16 – Tony Stewart
17 – AJ Allmendinger
18 – Kyle Larson
19 – Ryan Newman
20 – Kevin Harvick
21 – Paul Menard
22 – Clint Boyer
23 – Trevor Bayne
24 – Danica Patrick
25 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26 – Greg Biffle
27 – Ty Dillon
28 – Chris Buescher
29 – Landon Cassill
30 – Matt DiBenedetto
31 – Brian Scott
32 – Aric Almirola
33 – Michael Annett
34 – Casey Mears
35 – David Ragan
36 – Cole Whitt
37 – Michael McDowell
38 – Josh Wise
39 – Reed Sorenson
40 – Joey Gase