Martin Truex Jr. returned to victory lane, Ross Chastain stirred up controversy, and Joey Logano struggled when the Cup Series hit Dover.
After 54 races and several close chances, Martin Truex Jr. finally made it back to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series at Dover. This victory, like two of his other wins at The Monster Mile, was pushed to Monday because of rain.
When the green flag finally flew Truex Jr. made his way through the field with speed and strategy. He held off Ross Chastain during an intense late race battle through lapped traffic. Then, he survived a restart with seven laps to go after only taking two tires. In positions where he has had wins slip away recently, Truex Jr. and his team were able to close this race out with a win.
The win completed a Truex family sweep at Dover after his brother Ryan won the Xfinity race on Saturday. A big weekend for the brothers from New Jersey who call Dover Motor Speedway their home track.
Ross Chastain Stirs Up More Controversy
Ross Chastain once again finds himself with a few drivers upset with him after a race. Unlike recently where he’s gotten blame for things that weren’t always his fault, leading to the hashtag #BlameRoss, this was all on him. Chastain hit the back of Brennan Poole’s car as he was coming up to lap him, sending Poole into the wall and collecting Kyle Larson in the process. Poole was less than pleased with Chastain to say the least.
Brennan Poole on Ross Chastain at Dover … 👀 pic.twitter.com/cyj2TBODqL
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 1, 2023
Larson, who had one of the fastest cars on track at the time of the crash, showed his displeasure by blocking Chastain with his damaged car as he was chasing down Truex Jr. late in the event. After the race, Chastain apologized to Poole and his team, which is standard operating procedure for him at this point. Drivers are getting increasingly frustrated when he apologizes because nothing seems to change. Will this just be another incident that adds to the list?
Chastain Back to 2022 Form?
Along with the controversy at Dover, Chastain also showed the speed that made him a championship contender in the Cup Series last season. He leaves Dover as the points leader, but Chastain hasn’t been among the quickest cars week in and week out. His Trackhouse Racing team has still done a great job of finishing well and taking advantage of others mistakes. At Circuit of The Americas, he was spun out with less than ten laps to go and still finished in the top ten. Monday’s race at Dover showed that Chastain may have found the outright speed to match his consistency and make him a Cup Series contender again.
Joey Logano Struggles
This was a race to forget for Joey Logano as the defending Cup Series champion struggled all day long in Dover. Something was off with the car that caused his tires to wear extremely fast compared to others.
Tough day at Dover… Started 26th, worked our way up to 9th, then something happened underneath, making it extremely hard to turn. Multiple laps down and with less than 20 to go, whatever the issue was underneath, must have ran it’s course, officially broke, which created a fire.… pic.twitter.com/5uc84elx6j
— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) May 1, 2023
He frequently made unscheduled pit stops and was so slow at one point he was just in the way. It all culminated in a late race crash when whatever was causing the problem finally broke. Without a doubt, it was the worst performance of a slow start to the season for Logano. He has the win in Atlanta, but finds himself 13th in points after the first eleven races. With a string of more traditional ovals coming up on the Cup Series schedule, Logano will look to turn things around and climb up the standings.
Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is Kansas Speedway for the AdventHealth 400 this Sunday, May 7th at 3 p.m.
