Tag: ryan truex

At Daytona, Ryan Truex takes second Xfinity win in just eight starts

Ryan Truex claimed his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season – the second of his career – leading the field to the yellow and checkered flags on the final lap of overtime in Saturday night’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona …

Ryan Truex claimed his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season – the second of his career – leading the field to the yellow and checkered flags on the final lap of overtime in Saturday night’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway.

With very limited green flag runs and the pace interrupted all night with incidents, ultimately it was an accident among the front-running cars that ended the overtime period with Truex out front as he was so frequently through the night.

Running among that front group of cars, Parker Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet hit the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet driven by A.J. Allmendinger from behind, sending Allmendinger’s Chevy hard into the wall bringing out the final caution and ending the night.

Truex, 32, the younger brother of NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., crossed the line just ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chandler Smith in the No. 81 JGR Toyota. Kligerman finished in third place. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst and RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five.

“Oh my gosh, thanks to these fans, it’s so amazing to race here,’’ said Truex, who is racing part-time this season but now has two wins in eight starts this season.

“Just thanks to these guys,’’ Truex, driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota, said of his team. “I don’t get to race that often and I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. It’s all a work in progress. Just a great car [tonight].”

The veteran Allmendinger, who was running second at the time of his last lap accident, finished 24th. A frustrated Kligerman insisted he did not mean to wreck Allmendinger especially because the pair had worked well together throughout the race.

“I just had a run and I had to go. I felt it was the run I had to take to put myself on the bottom if I was going to win this race,’’ Kligerman added. “I love him like a brother; he and I have been in this a long time together.”

In many ways, the ending was indicative of the whole evening – hard racing followed by the kind of contact so common at the famous 2.5-mile Daytona high banks.

Driver-owner Jordan Anderson, who competes part-time in the series and was making only his fourth start of year, finished sixth answering a fourth-place effort in the Daytona season-opener.

Justin Allgaier, who led a race best 35 laps, was seventh, followed by Sheldon Creed, Leland Honeyman and Kyle Weatherman.

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The points standings were majorly affected with season-long leader, the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer losing the points lead to JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who won both stages.

Custer had a rough night, colliding with his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Herbst on pit road on the first pit stop – his No. 00 SHR Ford suffering damage that required attention the rest of the race and relegated him to a 32nd place finish. Custer, who held a 50-point advantage over Allgaier in the championship just two races ago, now trails Allgaier by 33 points with five races remaining to decide the regular season champion.

The other end of the current 12-driver Playoff field also featured a lot of important action. JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith dropped out of the last Playoff position after being collected in a seven-car accident on lap 26. Meanwhile, Sieg’s fifth place finish vaulted him inside the Playoff standings and he sits in that all-important 12th place position now – 15 points up on Smith.

Another championship favorite, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill also took a big hit in the standings – his night began tough even before the green flag flew to start the race. His No. 21 RCR Chevrolet had to pit for attention as cars were making pace laps and instead of starting on the outside of the front row where he qualified, he started from the rear of the field.

The precarious position ended up costing Hill immediately as he was collected in a multi-car accident on the very first lap of racing. After pitting throughout the night for repairs he ultimately parked the car, finishing 34th. Now Hill, who won the opening two races of the season, is ranked fourth – more than 100 points behind Allgaier — heading into the final summer stretch before the Playoffs start.

The Xfinity Series will be heading to Darlington Raceway for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 on Sept. 7 (USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the race. Justin Allgaier is the most recent winner at the track.

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Ryan Truex wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona, full results

Ryan Truex wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Check out the full results from Daytona!

The NASCAR Xfinity Series arrived at Daytona International Speedway, and it was well worth the admission. Austin Hill was forced to start in the rear and immediately faced the consequences after he was involved in a Lap 1 wreck. Justin Allgaier won the first two stages; however, a part-time Joe Gibbs Racing driver forced his way to victory lane on Friday night.

[autotag]Ryan Truex[/autotag] won the Wawa 250 at Daytona, earning his second victory of the 2024 NASCAR season. Truex had the best car at the end of the event and was propelled to the lead in NASCAR overtime after a great push from Riley Herbst. The driver of the No. 20 car was able to hold off Chandler Smith after A.J. Allmendinger wrecked on the last lap.

It has been a crazy career for Truex, and winning at Daytona might be one of his biggest highlights. This is his second win of the 2024 Xfinity Series season in eight starts. Truex has nothing left to prove, and any team would be lucky to snag his services for the 2025 season.

NASCAR results from Daytona in August 2024:

  1. No. 20 Ryan Truex
  2. No. 81 Chandler Smith
  3. No. 48 Parker Kligerman
  4. No. 98 Riley Herbst
  5. No. 39 Ryan Sieg
  6. No. 32 Jordan Anderson
  7. No. 7 Justin Allgaier
  8. No. 17 Sheldon Creed
  9. No. 42 Leland Honeyman
  10. No. 91 Kyle Weatherman
  11. No. 11 Josh Williams
  12. No. 19 Joe Graf Jr.
  13. No. 1 Sam Mayer
  14. No. 29 Blaine Perkins
  15. No. 28 Kyle Sieg
  16. No. 44 Brennan Poole
  17. No. 27 Jeb Burton
  18. No. 07 Patrick Emerling
  19. No. 14 C.J. McLaughlin
  20. No. 53 Joey Gase
  21. No. 2 Jesse Love
  22. No. 9 Brandon Jones
  23. No. 8 Sammy Smith
  24. No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
  25. No. 97 Shane van Gisbergen
  26. No. 5 Anthony Alfredo
  27. No. 51 Jeremy Clements
  28. No. 26 Jeffrey Earnhardt
  29. No. 45 Caesar Bacarella
  30. No. 92 Josh Bilicki
  31. No. 21 Austin Hill
  32. No. 00 Cole Custer
  33. No. 38 Matt DiBenedetto
  34. No. 31 Parker Retzlaff
  35. No. 74 Timothy Viens
  36. No. 15 Gus Dean
  37. No. 43 Ryan Ellis
  38. No. 35 Akinori Ogata

Ryan Truex talks about emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Dover in 2024

Ryan Truex talks about his emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Dover Motor Speedway in 2024. Find out what Truex had to say!

[autotag]Ryan Truex[/autotag] won his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover Motor Speedway in 2023 in dominant fashion. In 2024, Truex needed to steal the victory. The driver of the No. 20 car didn’t have the best car but found himself on the front row of the final restart. Truex went into Turn 1 below leader Carson Kvapil and pulled out ahead for his first win of 2024.

Following the event, Truex talked about his first win of the 2024 Xfinity Series season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver gave a shoutout to Kvapil in his second career event, but it was the No. 20 team that had the opportunity to enter victory lane.

“I can’t believe it, our car was just good at the end when it mattered, I was so loose all day,” said Truex. “Shout out to [Carson Kvapil], what an amazing run for what, his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but you’ve got to take these things when you can. I think I held my breath the last two laps. Love these fans. Love this track.”

Truex loves Dover because it has produced his two Xfinity Series wins in the last seven races, and it’s hard to blame him. He continues to find a way to victory lane at the Monster Mile. Truex has proven his ability to win races in the Xfinity Series, and it’s time for Joe Gibbs Racing or another team to give him a full-time opportunity.

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R. Truex grabs ‘hometown’ Xfinity win at Dover once again

The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile …

The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile track.

The New Jersey native and defending race winner started alongside 20-year old Carson Kvapil on the front row for the final overtime restart then pulled away to take the lead and ultimately the white flag – signaling one lap to go. An accident elsewhere on track officially ended the race under caution.

 

“I can’t believe it. Our car was just good at the end when it mattered. I was so loose all day,” said Truex, 32, the younger brother of NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr.

“Shout out to Carson. What an amazing run for, what, his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but you’ve got to take these things when you can.

“I think I held my breath the last two laps. Love these fans. Love this track.”

While Truex hoisted and will certainly savor the Dover trophy, it was also a great day for Kvapil driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The son of former NASCAR driver Travis Kvapil, finished fourth in his only other series start – at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway earlier this year – giving him a very promising pair of top five results in as many Xfinity Series races he’s competed in.

“This is pretty incredible,” Kvapil said. “Definitely felt like we had a fast car going into the day, but to be competing for the win on a green-white-checkered is pretty amazing. We’ve been in this situation before just not quite at this level.”

For much of the final laps, the outcome looked like it was going to be decided between former Richard Childress Racing teammates, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed. Hill, driver of the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet and Creed, who now drives the No. 18 JGR Toyota restarted door-to-door on the front row on a restart with 11 laps remaining. As that pair raced aggressively side-by-side for the lead, Kvapil put his Chevy down low, three-wide and drove past the pair to take the lead with eight laps remaining.

On the final restart of regulation — with five laps remaining — Hill and Kvapil restarted alongside one another on the front row, but Hill spun out in tight-quarter action between them in Turn 1, necessitating overtime. Kvapil was able to fend off the field on that first restart, only to have another caution come out. On the second restart, he and Truex started alongside each other, but Truex was able to get around Kvapil at the start and pace the field for the final two laps.

The race was briefly halted under red flag conditions for a light rain with 34 laps remaining. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer – who led a race best 95 of the 208 laps – was leading at the time and then decided to pit for tires and fuel during yellow flag laps just before the cars restarted. He had to restart at the tail end of the field, but the reigning series champion rallied back to a fifth-place finish – able to advance on three ensuing caution periods plus the double overtime.

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JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer finished third, with Creed fourth followed by Custer. Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger was sixth, followed by JGR’s Chandler Smith, Kyle Weatherman Racing’s Kyle Weatherman, Our Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo and Jordan Anderson Racing’s Parker Retzlaff.

The ninth-place finish was especially big for Alfredo, earning him the final Dash 4 Cash $100,000 prize – besting Riley Herbst, Jesse Love and Ryan Sieg – in the last of the four-race incentive program sponsored by Xfinity.

“Really coming into this race, that was our motivation. It wasn’t something to just be a part of… I mean this was huge,” Alfredo said. “You don’t understand how small our budget is compared to these bigger teams. People overlook it because we’ve been running so well. The last three weeks we’ve been running top 10, and everyone asks, ‘Who’s your alliance with?’

“… Coming into this race we knew if we could pull it off, we could invest in our team to be that much better.”

JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, a two-time Dover winner, won the opening stage of the race and ran up front – his 39 laps in the lead second only to Custer. He also pit in the waning laps and managed to rally back to a 17th-place finish.

Smith now leads Custer by a single point in the Xfinity Series championship standings as the series heads into an off-week. It resumes racing at the historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in the Royal Purple Bag Project 200 on May 11 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

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Ryan Truex returning to Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024

Ryan Truex is returning to Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the 2024 season but it may not be a full-time opportunity.

Joe Gibbs Racing has the Truex brothers a part of the organization and it has proven to be a successful formula this season. [autotag]Ryan Truex[/autotag] won in the No. 19 car at Dover Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series while [autotag]Martin Truex Jr.[/autotag] has gone on to win three races, including a victory on the same weekend as his brother.

Truex Jr.’s future was cloudy for several months as a decision on retirement had not been made yet. That was until August 5 when he announced in a press conference that he would return to the No. 19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series next season.

However, there was another piece of news that emerged from Truex Jr.’s press conference. He talked about his brother’s status at the NASCAR organization for the 2024 season following their weekend sweep at Dover earlier in the year.

“We’ve got races for (Ryan Truex) again next year. Hopefully more,” said Truex Jr. “We are looking for sponsorship to do a full year, if possible. That is on the table. He will be running part-time, but obviously it would be great if we could get him a full-time deal, so any out there looking for a good driver? He does a good job on social media too.”

Truex has been around NASCAR for over a decade but hasn’t stuck around at the same organization. The emergence of Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series driver’s career has been very crucial and proven that he can win races at the top levels of the sport.

There is no question that Truex should be full-time with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series. The only question is sponsorship and the broken model might cause another talented driver to lose out on a great opportunity.

NASCAR’s current system relies so much on money that it has a major effect on who races each weekend. Still, Truex has been the only driver to win while driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s All-Star car in the Xfinity Series since the start of the 2022 season and there is no doubt who should be full-time in the No. 19 car next year.

Ryan Truex cruises to maiden Xfinity victory at Dover

Of all the places for Ryan Truex to absolutely turn in a career day, the 31-year-old led a dominating 124 of the 200 laps at his hometown Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. He swept both stage wins and ultimately took the checkered flag an impressive 4.8s …

Of all the places for Ryan Truex to absolutely turn in a career day, the 31-year-old led a dominating 124 of the 200 laps at his hometown Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. He swept both stage wins and ultimately took the checkered flag an impressive 4.8s ahead of the field to claim his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s A-GAME 200.

It was such a big day for the 31-year-old who has raced in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series – primarily part-time – for nine seasons and is scheduled to only make a handful of starts in 2023. Yet he parlayed this part-time opportunity driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into a hugely sentimental victory at a special place – one the Mayetta, N.J. native has always claimed as his “home track.’’

Just before steering his Toyota into Dover’s Victory Lane, he stopped and was greeted by his older brother, NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. – the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who similarly earned his first victory in that series at Dover back in 2007.

“I’m just so thankful, all these fans, my team, they really stuck behind me,” said a smiling and emotional Truex, who becomes the 13th different NASCAR Xfinity Series driver to claim his first win at Dover.

“Most people didn’t believe in me, and I still did — my girlfriend, my family, my parents, my brother did. I’m just so thankful to be here.

“I felt like with 20 to go, I was just waiting for something to happen,’’ he continued. “Just praying, ‘Please God, keep everything straight and let’s get to the end of this.’ What a car, what an amazing Toyota Supra. I’m speechless.

“I thought I’d be more emotional right now, but when I crossed the flag, I couldn’t even talk on the radio and I’m not an emotional guy. This is for everyone that doubted me.”

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JR Motorsports driver and defending race winner Josh Berry finished second to Truex, securing an impressive record at Dover as well. He’s finished either first or second in all three of his Xfinity Series starts at The Monster Mile.

“We made some good adjustments in the second half of the race, the pit crew executed well the last couple stops and had a good green flag cycle and got up to second but the No. 19 (Truex) was just too far out and it seemed like he was the best car all day,’’ Berry said, adding, “It’s a fun day, I love this racetrack. Hate we didn’t get the win, but it was a great rebound and great day for us.’’

Berry’s JRM teammate, Justin Allgaier, was third followed by Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates John Hunter Nemechek and Sammy Smith. The third place showing for Hill, who led 18 laps, keeps the 2023 three-race winner atop the championship standings by four-points over Nemechek.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer finished sixth – good enough to earn the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash incentive award for the second straight week: the final installment of the bonus for 2023. He also got the big money from series sponsor Xfinity at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last week.

JR Motorsports drivers Brandon Jones and Sam Mayer were eighth and ninth with 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric rounding out the Top-10 on Saturday.

Richard Childress Racing driver Sheldon Creed, whose 41 laps out front were second only to Truex, finished 11th; an impressive outcome considering he spun and brought out a caution flag earlier in the race.

The afternoon, however, unquestionable belonged to Truex, who made his Xfinity Series debut as an 18-year-old driving for Michael Waltrip in 2010 and has since made 73 assorted starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well.

And now he is a bona fide winner in one of NASCAR’s headline series.

“I belong here, and I just proved that,’’ said Truex, whose 124 laps out front Saturday were more than his previous career total (67) in 88 starts.

“I’ve known it for a while and people around me have known it for a while. And now everyone in this garage area knows it. My goal is to drive a race car full time next year and hopefully we can make it happen.’’

The Xfinity Series returns to action on May 13 in the Shriner’s Children 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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