Truex has it nailed
Martin Truex proved he’s just as good at restrictor-plate racing as his boss is, winning his second consecutive Busch Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Saturday.
Truex, who drives a car co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., battled back after an early accident damaged his Chevrolet. Then he avoided several other crashes, a flurry of late cautions, and an intense overtime finish.
With Kerry Earnhardt, Junior’s big brother, right on his rear bumper, Truex jumped out on the restart of the three-lap overtime and pulled away.
Kerry Earnhardt got pushed out of the draft, and rookie Jon Wood pulled up to challenge Truex. But Wood never had enough to make a run for the lead, and Truex drove away for the victory.
The reigning Busch Series champion has won both races he’s entered at Talladega.
“That’s two for two at Talladega,” he said. “That’s a pretty good record and something I’m real proud of.”
His boss is even better: Earnhardt Jr. has five Nextel Cup victories here, and a Busch win two years ago. Junior and Truex, his protege, have won the past three races here.
Wood finished second in his first race on the 2.66-mile oval. David Stremme was third, followed by Ashton Lewis Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt.
Despite losing his chance to win here and join his family’s restrictor-plate legacy, Kerry Earnhardt was pleased after coming back from starting in the 34th position.
“We had a fast car. We just didn’t have enough friends there at the end,” he said.
The start was delayed more than three hours because of rain and the race was slowed by 10 cautions – including a 15-car accident that brought out an 18-minute stoppage in action so NASCAR could clean the track.
Truex was involved in that early mishap, which happened 17 laps into the race. But he suffered just minor damage to his Chevrolet and his crew worked feverishly under the caution to fix the car and not cost him any track time.
There was a spectacular crash near the end of the race, when Casey Mears’ car flipped over onto its roof and slid several hundred yards down the track as cars dodged and darted around him trying desperately to avoid hitting him.
The wreck started when at least 20 lead-lap cars were all jockeying for position at the front of the pack. Joe Nemechek was moving along the outside to make a pass on Denny Hamlin and Mears, but instead came down too low on the track. His car touched Hamlin’s and spun out of control, collecting cars behind him.
Craftsman Trucks
Ted Musgrave dominated the Craftsman Truck Series’ Dodge Ram Tough 200 from start to finish, leading all but two laps en route to a 0.935-second victory over Dennis Setzer in Madison, Ill.
Musgrave, who started his Ultra Motorsports Dodge from the pole after a record qualifying lap, easily held off Setzer on two late restarts on the 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway for his 16th career truck series victory.
Mugrave took the lead in the season-standings, three points ahead of sixth-place finisher Bobby Hamilton.
Indy Racing League
Rookie Danica Patrick has drawn attention this year as the only woman competing in the IRL’s IndyCar Series. After her breakthrough performance at the Indy Japan 300 at Motegi, Japan, she’ll get more credit for her driving.
Patrick led the first 18 laps on the Honda-built 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval before settling for fourth, easily her best finish of the year.
England’s Dan Wheldon successfully defended his title and became the first IndyCar Series driver to win three of a season’s first four races, edging Scott Sharp by 3.4612 seconds.
Buddy Rice was third in front of Patrick, who temporarily fell back to ninth while conserving gas before rallying for fourth. Patrick started from the front row.
“The start was pretty exciting for me,” Patrick said. “We had a really good car today. I’m a little upset at the end because we had to save so much fuel, but that was the right decision because it got us to the end of the race.”