Column By: JESSY MILLER / RPW – RICHMOND, VA – Martin Truex Jr. scored his sixth win of the season Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
Richmond was the second race in the first round of the MENCS (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series). Last weekend’s race was held in Las Vegas, which Truex also won.
Truex took the first stage of the race and finished the second stage runner up to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. During stage three, after Truex had his lead back, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose and spun Truex’s No. 19 car. Truex, luckily, was able to keep the No. 19 out of the wall and continue on. The No. 19 hit pit road during the caution and got their tires and was able to restart in 3rd place with minimal loss.
Stenhouse Jr. spins Truex Jr. (the leader) pic.twitter.com/mIdUVXqf6b
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 22, 2019
Truex had to race with Busch to keep his lead and the JGR team finished 1-2-3-4, the first time for the organization. (Truex, Busch, Denny Hamlin, Eric Jones). Unfortunately, Sunday morning it was released that Jones did not pass post race tech, which took away his fourth place win and put him in a must-win-situation to stay in the Playoffs.
Directly after the race, Truex gave the flag to a young fan in the grandstands, a tradition that is quickly becoming popular among drivers (believed to be started by Ryan Blaney).
During his interview, Truex joked that his team occasionally refers to the No. 19 as the No. 78 before they would have to correct themselves. He also said he was speechless after the win.
On twitter later that night, Truex thanked the fans for coming to the track and cheering him on:
Also, thank you to all of the fans who came out tonight at @RichmondRaceway. I hope you enjoyed the show! pic.twitter.com/qh8E7A8Ww9
— Martin Truex Jr. (@MartinTruex_Jr) September 22, 2019
