For the second week in a row the closing laps did not end well for Martin Truex Jr.
Last week while leading the road race at Charlotte Motor Speedway the Furniture Row Racing driver got taken out just before the finish line and finished 14th.
Sunday at Dover International Speedway Truex saw a top-five finish fade when his No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota got wrecked during a multicar melee with four laps remaining at the all-concrete Monster Mile. When the race was restarted for the overtime shootout, Truex drove his crippled race car to a 15th-place finish.
Truex also got nailed for a speeding penalty following a Lap 338 caution that sent him from third to 15th in track position.
“The 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Camry was good for most of the day but the pit road issue (speeding penalty) put us in a place we didn’t need to be and then we got caught up in someone else’s mess at the end. Frustrating for sure but all we can do is look ahead to next week (at Talladega).
Truex, who had finishes of 10th and third in the first two stages, remains third in the overall standings. He has a 36-point lead to be one of the eight drivers advancing to the next round with two races remaining in the Round of 12. He came into the Dover race with a 38-point lead over ninth place. (see point standings below)
The race winner was Chase Elliott. Rounding out the top 10 were: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Suarez.
The race had five cautions for 31 laps and one red flag for five minutes. There were 15 lead changes among eight drivers.
The next two races in the Round of 12 will be at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday Oct. 14 and Kansas Speedway Oct. 21.
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Round of 12 Playoff Standings
1. Kevin Harvick, 3101 points
2. Kyle Busch, 3096
3. Martin Truex Jr., 3069
4. Joey Logano, 3064
5. Chase Elliott, 3056 (advances with win in Dover)
6. Kurt Busch, 3054
7. Brad Keselowski, 3054
8. Ryan Blaney, 3043
9. Aric Almirola, 3033
10. Clint Bowyer, 3033
11. Kyle Larson, 3031
12. Alex Bowman, 3009
FRR PR/Photo Credit Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
