It was an emotional Saturday for Ryan Truex, who earned his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win in the A-GAME 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash race at Dover Motor Speedway.
“I belong here and I just proved that,” said Truex, who was greeted by his brother Martin, a three-time Dover champion in the Cup Series, in victory lane.
“People around me have known that for a while and now everyone in the garage area knows it. My goal is to drive one of these cars full-time next year.”
It was the first win in 89 Xfinity Series starts for Truex, who is driving a part-time schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The Truex duo, from Mayetta, N.J., join an exclusive group of brothers to win NASCAR events at the Monster Mile. Other famous sibling winners include the Bodine’s (Geoff and Todd), Busch’s (Kyle and Kurt), Wallace’s (Rusty and Mike) and Waltrip’s (Darrell and Michael).
Coincidentally, Martin’s first Cup Series win also came at Dover in 2007.
Truex, driving the No. 19 Toyota, was making his fifth Xfinity Series start of the season. His previous high finishes of the year had been in Phoenix (second) and Atlanta (third).
"I think I held my breath for the last 30 laps," Truex said. "I was definitely waiting for something to happen. I'm not an emotional guy but it took me a bit to say anything [after the race]."
Truex, who led a race-high 124 laps, averaged 107.191 mph in completing the 200-lap race in 1 hour, 51 minutes, 57 seconds. Josh Berry, the 2022 Xfinity Series winner at Dover, finished second, followed by Justin Allgaier in third, Austin Hill in fourth and John Hunter Nemechek in fifth.
"It's cool to make that kind of statement at a track like this," Truex said. "It's named the Monster for a reason. I had this one circled for a while."
Cole Custer earned the final Dash 4 Cash bonus prize of the season, collecting a $100,000 bonus for the second week in a row.
"[Ryan] was really fast all day," said Custer, who finished seventh. "This is his home track. It's a great day for his family."
Dover’s NASCAR tripleheader weekend concludes Sunday with the Würth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race (1 p.m., FS1, PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio).
For tickets, call 800-441-RACE to discuss your options with an account representative or visit DoverMotorSpeedway.com.
Tickets for kids 12 and under (with a paying adult) start at just $10 on Sunday.
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