MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Martin Truex Jr. admits to being surprised by his success at Martinsville Speedway.
Truex won a stirring, laps-long duel for the lead with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday night, winning for the third time in the last four visits to the 0.526-mile oval – the oldest and shortest track on the circuit – that is known as the “Paperclip.”
That nickname, a description of the speedway’s shape, brings to mind an office. Martinsville is something else for the 2017 Cup Series champion, whose trio of career wins there have come in a three-year span.
“This place has become a playground for us, I guess,” the 40-year-old Truex said in victory lane. “We didn’t have the best car all day, but we just kept working on it and never quit on it.”
Truex, who nudged Hamlin repeatedly in the turns and tried to get to his inside on the straightaways without success, finally made the pass with 15 laps to go, ducking underneath Hamlin coming out of the second turn. He sailed off to victory without another challenge as Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott battled the rest of the way for second.