Truex Victorious In Longest Race Of The Year

by Toyota | May 28, 2019

Martin Truex Jr. and Logan Seavey had dominating wins on Sunday, capturing victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) and POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, respectively.

NASCAR

After suffering a flat tire and hitting the wall early on, Truex was victorious on Sunday night, capturing his third win of 2019. In the 600-mile event, Truex led a race-high 116 laps (of 400) to win his second Coca-Cola 600 in four years.

'What a race,' said Truex. 'You never know what can happen in these things. We were so good early on, blew that tire, hit the fence and I'm like we're done. How are we going to fix this thing? I didn't know how bad it was. The guys worked hard and fixed it up.'

On the final restart with four laps to go, Truex ducked low and shot to the front of the field from the second row, taking the leaders four-wide before settling out front. It was the race-winning move for the No. 19 Camry driver who is sixth in the MENCS point standings.

Camry teammate Kyle Busch finished third after leading 79 laps and retook the points lead.

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Supra driver Jeffrey Earnhardt posted a career-best third-place finish at Charlotte on Saturday. It did not come easy for Earnhardt, who on Lap 141 of 200, hit the wall after suffering from a flat tire and fell a lap down. Earnhardt was able to get the lap back and work his way to the front where he tallied his third top-10 finish of the season.

'We gave it all we had there at the end, that's all I had left in the tank,' said Earnhardt. 'I'm thankful for the opportunity. It's a dream come true to get to drive in Joe Gibbs Racing equipment.'

Earnhardt's teammate Brandon Jones (10th) also collected a top-10 finish.

ARCA
A day prior to his high school graduation, Harrison Burton (fourth) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Thursday's ARCA Menards Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Teammate Michael Self finished fifth while Tanner Gray (sixth) and Christian Eckes (seventh) also finished in the top 10.

Self led a race-high 91 laps (of 109) before falling back through the field after tapping the wall. He continues to lead the ARCA point standings with two wins and five top-five finishes.

'I just made a mistake and got greedy,' said Self. 'I pushed it a little too hard and made a mistake. We still salvaged a top five which is good, I guess.'

POWRi
In POWRi competition, Toyota development driver Seavey took the lead on lap 11 of 30 and went on to a dominating victory over Zach Daum and Jesse Colwell as Toyota-powered drivers swept the podium in Sunday's feature at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri.

The victory is the sixth in POWRi competition for Toyota this season and marked the 13th overall national midget feature win for a Toyota driver in 2019.

What's Next
NASCAR heads to Pocono Raceway where the Xfinity Series will compete on Saturday, June 1 at 1 p.m. EDT on FS1. The Cup Series will close the weekend on Sunday, June 2 at 2 p.m. EDT on FOX.

The ARCA Menards Series also travels to Pocono where drivers will compete on Friday, May 31 at 5:45 p.m. EDT on FS2.

In the Midwest, NHRA returns to action at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago, Illinois, with the final round on Sunday, June 2 at 5:30 p.m. EDT on FS1.

Photo credit: Toyota
posted on conceptcarz.com