Truex has a friend when it comes to Dover Motor Speedway

By Mike Finney

DOVER — The affinity that Martin Truex Jr. has for Dover Motor Speedway is obvious.

It is the NASCAR track where he recorded the first Cup Series victory of his career in spring 2007, when he drove away to win by seven seconds over pole-sitter Ryan Newman.

From there, Truex’s driving career began to accelerate and he eventually went on to capture the 2017 Cup Series championship and has developed into a consistent contender on the circuit.

Truex enters this Sunday’s Wurth 400 at Dover with 34 career victories, including last year’s rain-delayed Cup Series race at the Monster Mile. He has now won a race in seven of the past eight seasons.

Last year’s race weekend at Dover was not just a big weekend for Truex, it was a big weekend for the entire Truex family — one for the family photo album.

It was the fourth Dover win for Truex, which snapped a 54-race winless streak. He also became the 10th driver to win four or more Cup Series races at Dover.

In the process, his victory on Monday completed a Truex family sweep at the Monster Mile last year as his younger brother Ryan won Saturday’s Xfinity race.

The younger Truex had persistently attempted to score a NASCAR victory for 13 years before finally breaking through at Dover.

“It’s just special, you know this is a special place,” Martin Truex said, of Dover. “And such a big day for our family to see Ryan do that on Saturday. He’s worked so hard for so long to get good opportunities. It’s awesome to see him take advantage of that.

“It feels incredible. It’s always special to come here. This is a special day. It’s been an awesome track for me over the years.”

Last year marked the second time that brothers have swept a weekend of races at Dover (1994, Rusty/Mike Wallace) and the Truex duo became the fifth set of siblings to accomplish the feat in NASCAR history.

Martin Truex returns to this weekend’s race at Dover in second place in the Cup Series points standings, just 15 points behind series leading Kyle Larson.

Truex has recorded five top-10 finishes in the first 10 races of the season, but he has yet to drive into victory lane.

He hopes the friendly confines are Dover will change that.

One thing is for certain, the Mayetta, New Jersey, native will definitely feel right at home.

In 33 career races at Dover, Truex has finished among the top 10 a total of 19 times. Besides the four wins, the 43-year-old driver also has three pole positions at the Monster Mile.

“Well, I guess it’s one of my home tracks, right,” Truex said. “I honestly just always look forward to coming up here. I have a lot of memories coming to this racetrack.

“A lot of really, really good memories, a lot of success, a lot of special times and just, you know, it’s definitely one of those places I really enjoy coming to, so love the racetrack, love the part of the country.”