The rain held off. The race finished as planned. And Martin Truex Jr. has his first victory of the year.
Truex has been in the Cup Series a while, but was often something of an also-ran until 2017, when he broke through and won his first championship—one that, to add even more emotion, came in the midst of his longtime girlfriend’s battle with ovarian cancer.
All this goes to say that when Truex pulled away from the field last night at the half-mile track, it was no great surprise. What was a little disappointing, for those of us wanting NASCAR to rival WWE for storylines, was that he didn’t form any new rivalry during the evening. It’s possible that’s coming this weekend. He’s a driver who produces some good soundbites cussing about other drivers over the radio to his crew chief and spotter, so the plain is ripe for confrontation, or at the very least transparent frustration.
To reset the landscape:
Sixteen drivers make the playoffs. Seven are locked in: Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick have each won twice; Truex, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman have each won once. Nine more spots are yet to be claimed, with a lot of regular season to go.
One driver of particular interest these days is Bubba Wallace, so an update on his performance is in order. The Cup Series’ only black driver, Wallace was active in the media in recent days advocating for NASCAR to ban of the confederate flag, something they announced yesterday that they will do. Wallace had a different, but equally if not more personal public struggle last year when he shared his struggles with depression with the greater NASCAR world. He’s a young driver trying to figure it out on the track, and with his eleventh-place finish last night (his third-best finish of the season, in the midst of what one would assume has been a draining few weeks) he’s now in the top twenty in points, 47 behind William Byron for the final playoff spot.
Up next, the gang goes to Miami this Sunday to race at Homestead, a race which used to be the season finale. One would expect the favorites to remain the same: Harvick, Truex, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Logano, and Elliott, with Ryan Blaney, Keselowski, and Bowman also notably in the mix, and a handful of other drivers who’d be unsurprising to see win.
That’s all for today, burgeoning NASCAR fans reading about NASCAR on an NIT blog.
