NASCAR Truex registers fifth win of the year to tie Busch, Biffle



Martin Truex Jr. boosted his points lead over Kyle Busch to 152 after 27 of 34 races.
DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Points leader Martin Truex Jr. bided his time, took the lead with 12 laps to go and drove to an easy victory in the NASCAR Busch series race Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
The win in the Stacker 200 was the fifth of the year for Truex, tying him with rookie Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle for the most on the circuit. It also was the fifth in the career of Truex and increased his points lead over Busch to 152 after 27 of 34 races.
"Winning at Dover means everything to me," said Truex, a native of Mayetta, N.J. "I've got a lot of fans in the stands."
He said the victory was not achieved easily despite his Chevrolet being the class of the field.
"We had a really good car at the start, but then it went away," Truex explained. "But we really worked on it, and we had the best car."
Took lead from Kahne
He took the lead from pole-sitter Kasey Kahne, Nextel Cup rookie sensation, on the third of 200 laps at The Monster Mile and led the next 20 times around the high-banked concrete oval. Kahne went back in the lead for 57 laps, but was no factor when his car faded in the second half of the $1 million race.
After that, it was just a question of Truex slowly overtaking several cars attempting to stretch their gas until he moved within a few car lengths of Wallace, who promptly slowed as his car began to sputter on lap 189.
"I didn't dream of running out of gas," said Wallace, who had been told by his crew he might go dry on the last lap. "I can't calculate the fuel mileage."
After Wallace fell out, Truex had a clear track the rest of the way. Still, he was hoping the adjustments during the race were adequate.
"I was really scared at the end that we didn't do enough," he said.
Mike McLaughlin, was second in a Ford in his fourth start since replacing Bobby Hamilton Jr., who moved up the Cup series.
Truex led three times for 47 laps and averaged 122.013 mph in a race slowed five times by caution flags covering 18 laps. There were seven lead changes among four drivers in a race that finished under caution.
Kahne wound up third in a Dodge, followed by the Chevrolets of Jason Leffler and Johnny Sauter.
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