The final green flag run was enough for Martin Truex Jr as he wins at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.
With 14 laps to go MTJ finally got past teammate Denny Hamlin before driving off to win the Blue Emu 500. Truex was up front for the majority of the race. He sat back and watched Hamlin and Ryan Blaney race before a caution flag flew. The 15th and final caution proved to be the race winning move for Truex and losing move for Blaney.
On the final pit stop, Blaney ran over an air hose. This gave him a penalty and forced him to the back of the field for the restart just past lap 454. Blaney led 154 laps and won both stages prior to the penalty. Early on it looked like he had the car to beat and challenged Hamlin at the end of the race before that caution.
Truex took advantage and came out of the pits in first place. Despite having choice on the restart, Hamlin got back out in front with 45 laps to go. Instead of making the hard charge back, Truex methodically made his moves.
With 14 laps to go he finally cleared Hamlin and set sail on his second win of the season. The win made him the first two-time winner of the year.
Blaney paced the field early in the race. He wasted no time taking the lead and going away. After gapping the field, Blaney won the first stage just shy of 24 hours past the original start time. Weather impacted the race on Saturday night and they were able to get the race resumed on Sunday afternoon.
In stage two it was much of the same. All Blaney with a handful of cautions mixed in there. He cruised to the stage win and put his name in the hat as the race winning favorite. Then the final stage started.
Chaos ensued for the majority final stage. There was no continuity as caution after caution flew through early and often. Single car spins led to the larger amount of cautions. Then the big one.
A 14 car pile up turned the back stretch at Martinsville into a parking lot. Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher tangled up in turns one and two that triggered the massive crash. That led to the second red flag of the race and first not for weather.
Ride with @KyleBusch as more than a dozen cars get caught up in a pile up at @MartinsvilleSwy. pic.twitter.com/4tmUOa1eDm
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 11, 2021
As laps wound down it looked like it was Hamlin was going to run away with the win. Finally a longer green flag run helped the field stretch out a bit. This put Hamlin in lapped traffic allowing Blaney to get closer and close the gap. Hamlin was able to hold off Blaney before the caution flew with 45 laps to go.
After the stops is when Truex made his move and went right after Hamlin to get the lead. The Joe Gibbs Racing drivers went side by side for a handful of laps before the driver of the No. 19 made the move. Hamlin’s car started to fade out and Chase Elliott was on Hamlin’s back bumper knocking. With five laps to go, Elliott moved Hamlin up the track with the help of a lapped car and took second away.
Hamlin has run in the top five in nearly every race this season but has yet to find victory lane. Blaney who won both stages finished 11th after his penalty.
Truex is the first two-time winner of the year after having seven different winners to start the season.
Unofficial Results
1. Martin Truex Jr
2. Chase Elliott
3. Denny Hamlin
4. William Byron
5. Kyle Larson
6. Joey Logano
7. Christopher Bell
8. Tyler Reddick
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Kyle Busch
11. Ryan Blaney
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Chris Buescher
14. Austin Dillon
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
16. Bubba Wallace
17. Ross Chastain
18. Cole Custer
19. Ryan Newman
20. Aric Almirola
21. Kurt Busch
22. James Davison
23. Josh Bilicki
24. Quin Houff
25. JJ Yeley
26. Anthony Alfredo
27. Chase Briscoe
28. Cody Ware
29. BJ McLeod
30. Erik Jones
31. Michael McDowell
32. Daniel Suarez
33. Brad Keselowski
34. Alex Bowman
35. Justin Haley
36. Ryan Preece
37. Corey LaJoie
