Martin Truex Jr. wins Chase opener at Chicagoland

JOLIET, Ill. — Martin Truex Jr. entered the Chase for the Sprint Cup as one of the favorites to win the championship in November.

In Sunday's playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway, he showed why.

Truex overcame a flat tire early in the race and rallied back late to win the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 in overtime. Truex lined up fourth on the final restart but was the first car with four fresh tires, which he used to pass Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Blaney.

"The racing gods don't want us leading too much; they have to make it difficult," Truex said in victory lane. "This feels good. We got more races to win, and we can win some. This is the way we wanted to start it off. It feels awesome."

The victory was the third of the year for Truex, showing his strength on intermediate tracks at an ideal time. He said his mindset after going a lap down was "Don't give up. Just keep digging. There's a long way to go at that point."

The Furniture Row Racing driver, who made NASCAR's championship race last season, now advances to the second round of the playoff with his first career win in a Chase race. In the meantime, Truex won't have to stress about the next two races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Dover International Speedway.

Truex also won this year in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400

Sunday's results from the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway (starting position in parentheses):

1. (6) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 270 laps, 126.3 rating, 44 points.

2. (9) Joey Logano, Ford, 270, 111.1, 40.

3. (14) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 270, 129.1, 39.

4. (22) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 270, 91.9, 38.

5. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 270, 116.7, 37.

6. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 270, 108.7, 36.

7. (19) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 270, 63.2, 34.

8. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 270, 105.3, 34.

9. (7) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 270, 91.1, 32.

10. (17) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 270, 91.8, 0.

11. (16) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 270, 87.2, 30.

12. (8) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 270, 121.3, 31.

13. (12) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 270, 79.3, 28.

14. (15) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 270, 81.2, 27.

15. (5) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 270, 82.7, 26.

16. (11) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 270, 71.5, 25.

17. (21) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 270, 68.7, 24.

18. (10) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 269, 83.9, 23.

19. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 269, 72.6, 22.

20. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 269, 76.9, 21.

21. (26) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 269, 61.6, 20.

22. (28) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 269, 61.2, 19.

23. (20) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 269, 62.3, 18.

24. (25) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 269, 58.5, 17.

25. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 268, 52.0, 16.

26. (24) Greg Biffle, Ford, 268, 52.2, 15.

27. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 268, 47.3, 0.

28. (13) Chris Buescher, Ford, 268, 56.3, 13.

29. (31) Landon Cassill, Ford, 267, 43.6, 12.

30. (35) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 267, 41.2, 11.

31. (34) Brian Scott, Ford, 266, 44.7, 10.

32. (27) Aric Almirola, Ford, 266, 40.7, 9.

33. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 265, 34.2, 8.

34. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 265, 45.6, 7.

35. (32) David Ragan, Toyota, 265, 36.7, 6.

36. (36) Cole Whitt, Ford, 263, 29.8, 5.

37. (30) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 262, 31.6, 4.

38. (40) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 260, 27.3, 3.

39. (39) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 257, 25.3, 2.

40. (38) Joey Gase, Ford, 254, 23.2, 0.

———

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 145.163 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 47 minutes, 24 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.776 seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 22 laps.

Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: Ky.Busch 1-21; M.Truex 22-51; B.Keselowski 52; J.Johnson 53-102; B.Keselowski 103-105; J.Johnson 106-120; C.Elliott 121; J.Johnson 122-170; B.Keselowski 171-173; J.Johnson 174-177; C.Elliott 178-234; D.Hamlin 235-236; J.Logano 237; R.Blaney 238-242; A.Bowman 243-248; C.Elliott 249-265; R.Blaney 266-268; M.Truex 269-270

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Johnson, 4 times for 114 laps; C.Elliott, 3 times for 72 laps; M.Truex, 2 times for 30 laps; Ky.Busch, 1 time for 20 laps; R.Blaney, 2 times for 6 laps; A.Bowman, 1 time for 5 laps; B.Keselowski, 3 times for 4 laps; D.Hamlin, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Logano, 1 time for 0 laps.

Wins: Ky.Busch, 4; B.Keselowski, 4; D.Hamlin, 3; C.Edwards, 2; K.Harvick, 2; J.Johnson, 2; M.Kenseth, 2; M.Truex, 2; C.Buescher, 1; Ku.Busch, 1; K.Larson, 1; J.Logano, 1; T.Stewart, 1.