Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Martin Truex Jr. wins Kansas in shootout for second victory of year

cZj44b06T_0J
After chasing down and passing Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. held on during late restarts to win the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Martin Truex Jr. held his own in a two-lap dash to the finish to win the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway.

After chasing down and passing Ryan Blaney with 33 to go, Truex had to fend off the field on three late restarts.

Finally, Truex outran Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Blaney to claim his second victory of 2017.

“These races are so hard to win, any of those restarts I could’ve gotten beat on,” Truex told Fox Sports 1. “Something could have happened. You just never know.”

UPDATE: Aric Almirola to be kept overnight in hospital after crash

The No. 78 Toyota started third and led six times for a race-high 104 laps. The car Truex took to Victory Lane was the same one he won with last year in the Southern 500.

“It felt like if I could get out front on those restarts I’d be fine,” Truex said. “If I came out second or third after a lap or two, it took me a long time to get good enough to pass those guys. I knew I had to go, I knew I had to make it happen.”

It’s the ninth career Cup Series win for Truex and it comes at the track closest to Furniture Row Racing’s headquarters in Denver, Colorado.

Truex joins Jimmie Johnson and Keselowski as the third repeat winner of the season.

Stage 1 winner: Kyle Busch

Stage 2: winner: Ryan Blaney

MORE: Race results

MORE: Truex takes lead in points

WHO HAD A GOOD DAY: Blaney led 82 laps and finished fourth for best finish since running second in the Daytona 500 ... Rookie Daniel Suarez finished seventh, tying his career best result (Phoenix, Auto Club) ... Jamie McMurray finished eighth for his seventh top 10 of the season .. Kansas native Clint Bowyer came from the rear to finish ninth.

WHO HAD A BAD DAY: Landon Cassill brought out cautions on Lap 30 and 50 for getting into the wall. He finished 21st ... Chase Elliott finished 29th, nine laps down after a pit road accident with Michael McDowell during the second caution period ... With 86 to go, a violent three-car accident occurred between Joey Logano, Danica Patrick and Aric Almirola and caused a red flag. Almirola was placed on a backboard after being removed from his car and transported to a local hospital.

Erik Jones brought out three cautions for accidents, the last coming with eight laps left. He finished 22nd. ... After being penalized on pit road and losing a tire mid race, Jimmie Johnson was fifth on a Lap 263 restart when contact with Kurt Busch sent him sliding onto the apron. He finished 24th.

Quote of the Night: “It was nice to show our muscle this weekend and prove that, like I said, this is where the 21 team deserves to be” - Ryan Blaney after finishing fourth.

WHAT’S NEXT: Monster Energy All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 7:30 p.m. ET on May 20 on Fox Sports 1.