Ryan Truex had one of his best days at Dover Motor Speedway as he dominated 124 of 200 laps in the A-GAME 200 on Saturday. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver swept both stage wins and ultimately won by a commanding 4.82-second margin to record his first NASCAR Xfinity Series triumph.
It was a significant day for the 31-year-old, who had three second-place finishes in 88 Xfinity starts prior to Saturday. Driving the #19 Toyota Supra, Truex clinched his first victory in a major Nascar series at a track that the Mayetta, New Jersey native considers his home track.
During the 200-lap race's final 94 laps, which were run under green, Truex's rivals had little chance to overtake him. In an effort to trigger a late-race yellow, many drivers attempted to stay on the track late during a run. However, the race stayed green.
In the first two stages, Truex easily outperformed everyone else by winning both. He dominated 53 laps after two stages. At the time, Sheldon Creed had led 24 laps, placing him second overall.
Third place went to Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing, followed by John Hunter Nemechek and Sammy Smith of Joe Gibbs Racing for Truex, and Justin Allgaier of Berry's JRM team. Hill, who led 18 laps and finished third, maintained his four-point lead over Nemechek in the championship standings.
Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing finished sixth, which was enough to win him the $100,000 Dash 4 cash prize for the second week in a row and the bonus payment for 2023. Xfinity, the series sponsor, gave him a large sum of money last week at Talladega Superspeedway.
Sam Mayer and Brandon Jones, both of JR Motorsports, finished eighth and ninth on Saturday, with 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric rounding out the top 10.
But Truex, who made his Xfinity Series debut in 2010 at the age of 18 while racing for Michael Waltrip, was the man of the hour. Since then, he has made 73 different starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He has since become an official winner in one of NASCAR's top series.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been included to NASCAR's list of the 75 Greatest Drivers
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has succeeded both on and off the track, and he was selected to NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers on Thursday, joining his father, who was among the first 50 on the list.
Earnhardt Jr., like his father, excelled at restrictor-plate racing, winning the Daytona 500 twice (2004, 2014) and six times at Talladega Superspeedway.
Earnhardt Jr. also won the Daytona summer race twice, including a heartbreaking triumph in the first race at Daytona following his father's death there earlier that year.