Monday, May 1, 2023

Ryan Truex Wins First Career Xfinity Race

Ryan Truex Wins First Career Xfinity Race

On Hometown Track - Dover Motor Speedway

 

Of all the places for Ryan Truex to absolutely turn in a career day, the 31-year-old led a dominating 124 of the 200 laps at his hometown Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.  He swept both stage wins and ultimately took the checkered flag an impressive 4.8-seconds ahead of the field to claim his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s A-GAME 200.

 

It was such a big day for the 31-year-old who has raced in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series – primarily part-time – for nine seasons and is scheduled to only make a handful of starts in 2023. Yet he parlayed this part-time opportunity driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into a hugely sentimental victory at a special place – one the Mayetta, N.J. native has always claimed as his “home track.’’

 

Just before steering his Toyota into Dover’s Victory Lane, he stopped and was greeted by his older brother, NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. – the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who similarly earned his first victory in that series at Dover back in 2007.

 





“I’m just so thankful, all these fans, my team, they really stuck behind me,” said a smiling and emotional Truex, who becomes the 13th different NASCAR Xfinity Series driver to claim his first win at Dover.

 

“Most people didn’t believe in me, and I still did – my girlfriend, my family, my parents, my brother did. I’m just so thankful to be here.

 

“I felt like with 20 to go, I was just waiting for something to happen,’’ he continued, ‘just praying, please God keep everything straight and let’s get to the end of this. What a car, what an amazing Toyota Supra. I’m speechless.

 

“I thought I’d be more emotional right now, but when I crossed the flag I couldn’t even talk on the radio and I’m not an emotional guy. This is for everyone that doubted me.”

 

Ryan made his Xfinity Series debut as an 18-year-old driving for Michael Waltrip in 2010, and has since made 73 assorted starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well.

 

And now he is a bona fide winner in one of NASCAR’s headline series.

 

“I belong here, and I just proved that,’’ said Truex, whose 124 laps out front Saturday were more than his previous career total (67) in 88 starts.

 

“I’ve known it for a while and people around me have known it for a while. And now everyone in this garage area knows it. My goal is to drive a race car fulltime next year and hopefully we can make it happen.’’

 





 

source: NASCAR Media

 

No comments: