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Charlotte NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr recovers from wall hit to win

Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr survived an early impact with the wall to claim victory in the 600-mile NASCAR Cup series race at Charlotte

With just 10 laps of the scheduled 400 left to run, Brad Keselowski spun his Penske Ford into the pitlane with a flat tyre, which brought out the 17th caution of the longest race on the Cup calendar.

Truex's brush with the wall had come early in the race, at a time when the Toyota teams appeared to be struggling, and it forced him to pit for attention.

But he moved back into contention as the night progressed and won the third of the race's four stages.

In the caution for Keselowski's spin, Truex led the charge for fresh tyres and restarted for the final sprint to the flag in third place, behind David Ragan - who hadn't pitted - and Ryan Newman, who only took on two new Firestones. Both were quickly overcome by the #19 Toyota.

Joey Logano put pressure on Truex but he was able to navigate the final five laps to claim his third win of the season, and third from the last five 1.5-mile track.

Logano, seeking a double for Roger Penske's eponymous squad after Simon Pagenaud's win at the Indianapolis 500, was forced to settle for second, having run as low as 20th early in the race as he struggled to find an acceptable balance in the #22 Ford.

Kyle Busch started and finished in third for JGR, surviving contact late in the race with brother Kurt and leading 79 laps as he claimed a seventh top three finish of the campaign, having promised his #18 team a top 10 finish.

The highest Chevrolet finisher was Chase Elliott in fourth, just 0.3s behind Busch, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Roush Fenway) and Chris Buescher (JTG Daugherty) providing sensible drives in an attrition filled race for fifth and sixth respectively.

Alex Bowman's run of three consecutive second place finishes came to end. Second in stage three to Truex, he ended up back in seventh and narrowly pipped seven-time Cup champion Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jimmie Johnson.

Having become the youngest pole-winner in the 60th running of the race on Memorial Day, William Byron fell to ninth at the flag for Hendrick, but did keep Kevin Harvick behind. Harvick's race was compromised twice by pitting moments before the caution was deployed.

Keselowski dominated the first two stages of the race and looked set to take his second successive win, but being put onto scrubbed tyres at the beginning of stage three meant he wasn't a factor thereafter, coming home in 19th.

Strategy gamblers Ragan and Newman fell back to 15th and 16th respectively, just ahead of Denny Hamlin who survived a heavy shunt on the final lap.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 400 4h50m09.s
2 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 400 0.330s
3 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 400 1.421s
4 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 1.770s
5 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 400 2.374s
6 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 400 2.561s
7 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 3.178s
8 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 3.338s
9 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 3.461s
10 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 400 3.819s
11 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 400 3.840s
12 Corey LaJoie Go FAS Racing Ford 400 4.357s
13 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 400 4.605s
14 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 400 4.631s
15 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 400 5.196s
16 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 400 6.083s
17 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 400 30.888s
18 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 399 1 Lap
19 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 398 2 Laps
20 Matt Tifft Front Row Motorsports Ford 398 2 Laps
21 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 398 2 Laps
22 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 398 2 Laps
23 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 397 3 Laps
24 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 397 3 Laps
25 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 396 4 Laps
26 Parker Kligerman Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 396 4 Laps
27 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 396 4 Laps
28 Quin Houff Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 396 4 Laps
29 B.J. McLeod Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 395 5 Laps
30 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 389 11 Laps
31 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 343 Suspension
32 Joey Gase MBM Motorsports Toyota 334 66 Laps
33 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 315 Accident
34 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 315 Accident
35 Bayley Currey Rick Ware Racing Ford 245 Accident
36 Ross Chastain Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 134 Suspension
37 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 108 Radiator
38 Cody Ware Petty Ware Racing Ford 51 Rear Gear
39 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing Toyota 47 Accident
40 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22 Accident

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Kyle Busch 528
2 Joey Logano 522
3 Chase Elliott 478
4 Kevin Harvick 478
5 Brad Keselowski 459
6 Martin Truex Jr. 448
7 Denny Hamlin 434
8 Kurt Busch 406
9 Ryan Blaney 376
10 Alex Bowman 373
11 Clint Bowyer 370
12 Aric Almirola 360
13 Daniel Suarez 334
14 Jimmie Johnson 324
15 William Byron 316
16 Kyle Larson 311
17 Erik Jones 309
18 Ryan Newman 305
19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 303
20 Paul Menard 290
21 Austin Dillon 284
22 Chris Buescher 256
23 Ty Dillon 240
24 Ryan Preece 187
25 Daniel Hemric 179
26 Matt DiBenedetto 168
27 David Ragan 166
28 Corey LaJoie 155
29 Darrell Wallace Jr. 141
30 Michael McDowell 134
31 Matt Tifft 119
32 Reed Sorenson 37
33 Quin Houff 28
34 Jamie McMurray 19
35 Stanton Barrett 2
36 Casey Mears 1


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