Martin Truex Jr. went back-to-back both at Richmond Raceway and in consecutive Cup playoff races, winning Saturday night’s middle race of the Round of 16 opening playoff round. Not only did Truex win at the .750-mile short track, he also won there back in April.
And on top of that, he followed up last Sunday’s playoff-opening win at Las Vegas with another checkered flag Saturday night.
Kyle Busch led the most laps (202) and finished second, while Denny Hamlin was third. Erik Jones was originally scored as finishing fourth, which would have made it the first time in Joe Gibbs Racing history that it has finished 1-2-3-4 in a NASCAR Cup race, but Jones’ finish was disqualified after failing post-race inspection. Jones was scored last (38th place).
MORE: Martin Truex Jr. completes Richmond sweep with playoff win
After Jones’ DQ, Brad Keselowski was elevated to a fourth-place finish and Ryan Newman was fifth. Sixth through 10th were Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez and Jimmie Johnson.
Click here for updated results after Jones’ DQ.
As for the points, Truex increased his lead to 21 points over Kevin Harvick and 24 points over Kyle Busch. Even so, Harvick and Busch have earned enough points in the first two playoff races to lock themselves into the Round of 12 that starts in two weeks.
Click here for updated driver standings after Jones’ DQ.