Despite start penalty, Martin Truex Jr. wins Federated Auto Parts 400

Martin Truex Jr. is good at Richmond Raceway. Two years after sweeping the NASCAR Cup Series races there, he led the final fifty-one laps in Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders to win his fourth race of the year and punch his ticket to the Round of 12.

Much like Xfinity Series race winner Noah Gragson earlier in the day, Truex started third while points leader Kyle Larson was on pole; Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Denny Hamlin began the night in second. Truex briefly enjoyed a strong start before it turned out to be too good as he was penalised for jumping at the line, forcing him to pass through pit road before rejoining. After six playoff drivers wrecked out in last week’s Darlington event, the streak continued when Kurt Busch spun and slammed into the turn one wall on lap 42.

At the front, Hamlin led all but four laps (Busch led four under competition caution) to win the first stage ahead of Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Larson, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Truex, Kevin Harvick, and Aric Almirola. All but Chastain were playoff drivers.

The 148-lap Stage #2 ran completely green with Hamlin, Elliott, Truex, and Larson leading significant laps. JGR’s Christopher Bell also enjoyed some time in front during the green-flag pit cycle. During his stop, Elliott backed up under the belief that he was in a lengthy stop, but inadvertently destroyed his crew’s jack and consequently sinking him a lap down. By the green-checkered flag, Hamlin led a JGR 1–2–3 with Kyle Busch and Truex tailing. Larson, Logano, Bell, Chastain, Almirola, Alex Bowman, and Harvick. Bell and Chastain split the playoff racers.

Hamlin kicked off the final stage by continuing to lead. Six laps in, Bubba Wallace‘s brakes failed and he wrecked for what would be the segment’s only caution. As the race crossed the 100-to-go mark, drivers began pitting under green; Michael McDowell, who finished last in the playoff opener, continued to have postseason woes when he was slapped with a speeding penalty for a third time. Another pit cycle came with fifty laps left, during which Truex inherited the lead from Larson as he made his stop. Busch sped on pit road and received a penalty.

Truex pulled away, lapping all but the top nine cars, en route to his fourth win of 2021, first since Darlington in May, and third at Richmond. Hamlin and Bell completed the JGR top three sweep.

“[The start violation penalty] was frustrating, I’m not going to lie,” said Truex. “But I knew we’d have a good enough car to overcome it. It felt pretty good the first couple laps. Just one of those things. You’ve got to put it out of your mind and you’ve got to go race, and we knew there was a lot on the line tonight. Very happy to get to do this and go to Bristol without any worries next week is always fun.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	3	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
2	2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
3	10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
4	13	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
5	6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	400	Running
6	1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
7	17	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
8	5	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
9	15	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
10	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	399	Running
11	19	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	399	Running
12	12	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	399	Running
13	7	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	399	Running
14	9	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	399	Running
15	11	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	398	Running
16	26	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	398	Running
17	22	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	398	Running
18	28	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	398	Running
19	14	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	398	Running
20	24	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	398	Running
21	31	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	398	Running
22	21	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	397	Running
23	23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	397	Running
24	18	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	396	Running
25	20	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	396	Running
26	30	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	396	Running
27	29	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	396	Running
28	16	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	395	Running
29	25	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	395	Running
30	32	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	393	Running
31	36	51	Garrett Smithley*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	389	Running
32	27	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	388	Running
33	34	15	Joey Gase*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	387	Running
34	37	53	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	386	Running
35	35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	386	Running
36	33	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	385	Running
37	4	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	40	Accident

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points