NASCAR
Martin Truex Jr. Leads JGR Sweep At Richmond Raceway
RICHMOND, VA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Joe Gibbs Racing’s (JGR) Martin Truex Jr is sitting atop the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standing after winning the Federated Auto Parts 400 Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
The victory was the 2nd straight in the NASCAR Playoffs for Truex, who won last week at Las Vegas. Truex also led a 1-2-3 sweep of the top spots for JGR, leading Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag.
“What a job the team did,” said Truex. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable. To win this way is pretty incredible. I’ve never done anything like that in my life. We had to keep working on it all night. We had good speed, but it was just a matter of staying up with it and adjusting. It’s hard when you’re racing your teammates and they’re looking at what you’re doing and you’re looking at what they’re doing and those are the guys you’re racing. Just an awesome night for JGR.”
“We led a lot of laps,” said Busch, who led the most laps (202). “We were up front a lot. But when I was out front, he (Truex) could keep the closest distance to me. That kind of worried me for a finish like that in the long run. I don’t think we were as good as him all night long. Martin, the car, the combination thereof, us, the combination of, just lacked a little bit. You know, like the 11 lacked a little bit more than us.”
“Just seemed like the long run speed they (Truex & 19 Team) really had quite a bit more and a little bit more turn, a little bit more forward drive, just everything — every little bit,” said Hamlin. “It just seemed like it was about a half a tenth a lap there on average, and the 19 just had a really good long run car. We were kind of third best there, that’s kind of where we ended up.”
The finish would have been a 1-2-3-4 for JGR but the No. 20 of Erik Jones, who crossed the finish line in fourth place, failed post race inspection and as a result was penalized with a 40th and last place finish.
“There’s fairly critical measurements on the rear wheel alignment that have to be followed, so there’s any number of things that the team could do or not do to make it fail,” said Jay Fabian, Managing Director of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. “Standard process as a race, we give a pretty strong allowance on what they can run pre-race to post-race, and it’s crept out of that range. Rear wheel steer and alignment is important as a critical factor in downforce. It’s an aero benefit to get more skew in the rear, so we keep those parameters pretty tight so that everybody is racing with the same thing, and that’s the key to running all 16 cars through there.”
The post-race failure of the 20-car moved everyone else up a spot in the final standings meaning Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski finished fourth followed by Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman in fifth.
“We just weren’t quite as fast as the Gibbs cars,” said Keselowski, who started on the pole. “We could get a little short-run speed but then we’d be a little bit slower on the long-run. We tried to trade a little bit of short-run for long-long and we got a little bit of long-run but we gave up all of our short-run advantage.”
“I’m proud of our finish, I’m proud of the teamwork,” said Newman. “We did get some stage points tonight, which has been our biggest weakness the entire season. Just fighting hard. We’re making strides, albeit late in the season, but we’re making gains and we’ll just keep working on it.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson finished sixth followed by a trio of Stewart-Haas Racing Fords; Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez. Hendrick Motorsports Jimmie Johnson rounded out the Top-10.
The NASCAR Playoffs move onto “The Roval” at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Sunday, September 29th, where four drivers will be eliminated and only the Top 12 will advance to Round 2.
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
BRISTOL, TN (April 10, 2026) Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell was thrilled to have an opportunity to drive the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Toyota in Friday night’s Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After crossing the finish line first, he had reason to be positively elated.
Corey Heim, on the other hand, had 350,000 reasons to be disappointed, after his dream of completing the Triple Truck Challenge — and earning a $350,000 bonus — ended prematurely against the Turn 1 wall.
Bell grabbed the lead from Christian Eckes on Lap 188 of 250 and held it the rest of the way, with Chandler Smith moving into second after a subsequent restart on Lap 224 and chasing Bell to the checkered flag.
Finishing 0.330 seconds ahead of Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Bell scored his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory since 2017, his first the 0.533-mile short track and the eighth of his career.
Bell was enlisted to substitute for injured Stewart Friesen in last year’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. On Friday night, he raced as Friesen’s teammate and finished three positions better than he had at the Upstate New York road course.
“Oh, man, that was just so awesome to win a truck race,” Bell said. “It’s been since 2017 that I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this group. I got the unfortunate call last year to drive for Stewart when he was hurt, went up to Watkins Glen and almost got it.
“They’ve been working really hard to get to Victory Lane. Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins, they mean a lot to this team, this organization.”
The most recent Cup Series winner at Thunder Valley, Bell will race Sunday in the Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Heim’s bid for an extra $350,000 ($500,000 total) for a third straight Triple Truck Challenge victory ended abruptly on Lap180, moments after he had muscled past Christian Eckes to lead his only lap of the race.
Contact from Eckes’ front bumper to the right rear of Heim’s No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota sent Heim spinning into the outside wall. Pole winner Kaden Honeycutt T-boned into Heim’s Tundra, with the No. 34 Ford of two-time Bristol winner Layne Riggs nosing into Honeycutt’s truck in a chain-reaction collision.
TRICON teammates Heim and Honeycutt exited the race under the resulting red flag. With the single lap led to his credit, Heim has now led the last 30 straight Truck Series races he has entered, but that was no consolation for losing the $350,000 bonus he would have collected for winning the race.
“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything,” Heim said graciously of the contact from Eckes’ Chevrolet. “I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix-up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck.
“I had an issue with my transmission sticking into gears, and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free. I just packed some air and got him free. I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it.
“I’ve been racing him for a long time, and I don’t think he would do that on purpose, so we are all good.”
After losing ground on the final restart, Eckes finished fifth behind Bell, Smith, Giovanni Ruggiero and Cup driver Ross Chastain. Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar and rookie Brenden Queen completed the top 10.
The race featured nine cautions for 76 laps. Eckes led a race-high 132 laps to Bell’s 63 and won the first stage. Ben Rhodes stayed out under caution on Lap 122 and claimed the Stage 2 win.
BRISTOL, TN (April 10, 2026) Kris Wright and the No. 81 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Silverado RST will have a new look when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series takes on the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway Friday night.
iHeart Radio is joining Pittsburgh’s own FNB Corporation in a split scheme as Wright hopes for a strong run in Thunder Valley.
“I’m excited for another opportunity to race at Bristol Motor Speedway,” said Wright, a Wexford, PA native. “It’s always a highlight of the season and one of the most demanding tracks on the schedule.”
Wright qualified 25th with a fast lap of 124.323 mph, that was only 0.368-seconds behind pole sitter Kaden Honeycutt in a very tight field.
“Things can definitely happen quick and change in an instant,” said Wright about Bristol. “Our No. 81 F.N.B. Corporation / iHeartRadio team needs to be sharp from the start and put ourselves in the best position possible.”
Wright moved up three spots in the points standings after finishing 20th in the last race at Rockingham Speedway despite battling an ill-handling truck early.
“I battled a loose truck all day, which put us in a few tough spots, but our F.N.B. Corporation team brought a really fast truck that unfortunately never got the spotlight it deserved,” said Wright.
A short track may be exactly what Wright and his McAnally-Hilgemann team need as eight of Wright’s 23 career ARCA Menards Series Top 10’s have come on short tracks.
By HOLLY CAIN
NASCAR Wire Service
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 29, 2026) – Good pit strategy and a highly-motivated team rallied Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott to the NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville (Va) Speedway; the sport’s reigning Most Popular Driver delivering Chevrolet its first win of the season all to the delight of a huge enthusiastic crowd at the historic half-miler.
Elliott short-pitted on lap 261 to gain track position then moved his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead for good after a restart with 68 laps remaining – ultimately out-running the day’s most dominant driver, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag by .565-second to extend the Hendrick team’s track record win total to 31 victories.
“It was definitely a team effort, how about that, that was awesome,’’ said Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who made his very first NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville exactly 11 years ago to the day.
“We’ve never had a win this early in the season. Just a really great team effort. So proud of [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] the crew really did a great job. We took a gamble and were going to two-stop that last stage and honestly believe it was going to work out either way.
“Just so proud. Sure is a lot of fun when days like this work out.’’
Elliott, 30, of Dawsonville, Ga., said he had been confident in the car’s speed all weekend and on Sunday, just needed that clutch pit call to get up front and seize the chance.
“This whole deal is really weird the way it works,’’ said Elliott, who now has 22 career wins. “Fortunately got that lead on the last one [restart] and fell into a good pace. Just had enough.
“Probably needed a little bit to be just the absolute best out-right but we were really close and were able to manage and save enough to get through traffic at the end.
“But man, it’s really cool when this stuff works out. To win these races is just so tough. Really grateful for the opportunity as always. I never take it for granted.’’
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota led a race-best 292 of the 400 laps and for much of the afternoon looked to absolutely run away with his seventh grandfather clock trophy. But after Elliott got out front, Hamlin was playing catch-up and never really was able to get close enough to attempt a pass in the closing laps as the leaders navigated lapped traffic.
“He did a good job controlling the pace there,’’ said Hamlin, who won both stages and was actually leading by three-seconds at the point Elliott made that all-important short pit stop to get up to the front.
“Just really came from that bad restart – just not much more that I could have done there. I felt like we gave it our all.”
This year’s Las Vegas winner, Hamlin said he was also concerned in the final laps that perhaps the car had a loose wheel on the final run, but said either way, “there are some races that get away from you in your career and this was certainly one of them.’’
Team Penske’s Joey Logano rebounded from a rough 33rd-place outing last week at Darlington, S.C. to finish third Sunday – equaling his best showing of the season in the No. 22 Ford.
“Weekends like last weekend you start to question everything, you have to right, as a competitor you have to do that, but nice to have a good rebound, solid car,’’ the three-time series champion Logano said. “Our car honestly, if we were able to get to the lead, I don’t know that the nine-car [Elliott] was any better than us, he just got the clean air at the right time. Proud of this team.’’
Fourth place finisher Ty Gibbs earned his fifth consecutive top-six of the season in the No. 54 JGR Toyota, and fourth top-five in the last five races. It marks his first top-10 at Martinsville.
Hendrick Motorsports William Byron – a three-time Martinsville winner – was fifth after leading six laps in the No. 24 Chevrolet. Penske’s Ryan Blaney, JGR’s Christopher Bell, Penske’s Austin Cindric, Hendrick’s Kyle Larson and Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry rounded out the top-10.
The season’s four-time race winner Tyler Reddick finished 15th but still holds a massive 82-point advantage over Blaney and is 94 points ahead of Hamlin atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings. Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 36th after triggering a 12-car accident on lap 325, dropped from third place to 11th in the standings.
The NASCAR Cup Series takes the first of the season’s two off-weeks next weekend before resuming competition April 12 in the Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson is the defending Bristol Spring race winner.
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