LOUDON, N.H. - Martin Truex Jr. collected his third win of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season in dominant fashion, taking his second victory on a Monday this year to earn his first career win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Crayon 301.
Truex Jr.'s previous Monday win occurred in the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on May 1. At New Hampshire, he led 254 or 84% of the 301-lap Loudon race while sweeping both Stage 1 and Stage 2 en route to earning 60 points and seven playoff points.
The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota became the first driver to ever sweep both stages and win the race at New Hampshire. After going winless in 2022, bouncing back big time in 2023 and getting his 34th career Cup win, Truex Jr. is starting to build some serious momentum ahead of the postseason.
"What we’ve been able to do here over the years is pretty remarkable, and to not win was really getting frustrating," Truex Jr. said. "Just really an awesome job by everybody. What a race car we had today. Just proud of the whole team. Pit stops were flawless. Race car was unbelievable."
Joey Logano, who considers New Hampshire his "home track," had a runner-up finish. Logano only led two laps but earned 45 points during the race after finishing ninth in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2.
Logano said finishing second was a good result, but it's tough to come so close to winning and not end up in Victory Lane.
"Dangit, the home track, there’s no place you want to win more than this, so it stings to not get the Shell-Pennzoil Ford into Victory Lane," Logano said. "But gosh, second just sucks sometimes, you know. It stings the most when you’re that close and feeling like you had a shot at it. Still a good day for us."
Kevin Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing went on to finish fourth. This marks Harvick's 24th top-10 finish at New Hampshire in his final start, which ties him for first all-time with Jeff Gordon at the track.
"This had just been a great race track for us – another top five," Harvick said. "These tracks and these fans here, especially, have been so good to me throughout the years. It’s always fun to come here.”
Results from the 2023 Crayon 301 are listed below.
Other Race Facts
Toyota had four of its six drivers finish inside the top-eight at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. finished first, while Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace finished in sixth through eighth.
The race for the final spot in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is heating up with six races remaining in the regular season as the 15th, 16th and 17th in the standings are all separated by two points. Wallace is 15th (433), Michael McDowell is 16th (432) and Daniel Suárez is 17th (431).
Christopher Bell had his worst performance in NASCAR at New Hampshire, finishing 29th after hitting the Turn 4 wall with the right-rear late in the race.
After his 23rd-place finish, Ross Chastain is no longer in the top five in the point standings for the first time in 27 races. William Byron now holds the longest streak at eight races, according to statistician Trey Ryan.
This marked the third consecutive week where NASCAR Cup Series races have been impacted by rain. Chicago, Atlanta and now New Hampshire all had rain affect their respective events. NASCAR will certainly hope for better weather next weekend at Pocono.
GRID Ranking
The 2023 GRID Ranking is the seventh year of the world's premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 2.
Drivers in the seven racing series participating in the ranking (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP) have earned GRID Ratings, which helped determine their seeding during Week 15 of the 2023 GRID Ranking.
DRIVER | OLD RATING | PREVIOUS RANKING | MOST RECENT FINISH | NEW RATING | NEW RANKING |
William Byron | 13.11 | 12th | 24th | 12.46 | 15th |
Kyle Busch | 11.52 | 18th | 36th | 10.94 | 19th |
Kyle Larson | 10.31 | 22nd | 3rd | 10.87 | 20th |
Martin Truex Jr. | 9.40 | 29th | 1st | 10.73 | 21st |
Joey Logano | 8.34 | 34th | 2nd | 9.22 | 30th |
Week 16 of the GRID Ranking:
The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series will be at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 23. Coverage for the HighPoint.com 400 begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
GRID NETWORK
GRID Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GRIDRanking
GRID Ranking: https://twitter.com/GridRanking
GRID TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gridnetwork
GRID Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/gridnetwork
GRID Website: https://www.gridranking.com/
GRID History: https://twitter.com/Grid_History
GRID YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gridranking