Martin Truex Jr. leads every green-flag lap in Stage 2 victory
Martin Truex Jr. completed a sweep of both stages, leading every green-flag lap to earn the Stage 2 victory at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
Kevin Harvick finished second, Aric Almirola was third, Chase Elliott fourth and Brad Keselowski completed the top-five.
Also collecting stage points were Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, Truex was the first off pit road and resumed the lead when Stage 2 went green on Lap 110. He was followed by Harvick, Elliott, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch.
During pit stops, Johnson was penalized for speeding on pit road while Erik Jones was flagged for removing equipment from his pit box. Both had to restart at the rear of the field.
With 60 laps remaining in the second stage, Truex held a more than 1.6-second lead over Harvick. Almirola was in third, Keselowski fourth and Kurt Busch was fifth. Kyle Busch, who started from the rear of the field, was 10th.
Elliott made his way back into the top five with 50 laps still to go in the stage while Austin Dillon had charged his way up to eighth.
On Lap 153, several drivers elected to make green-flag pit stops, including Logano, Bowyer, Paul Menard, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
After their stops, Logano was running one lap down and both Blaney and Bowyer were two laps down.
Johnson, who began the stage with a speeding penalty, worked his way back into the Top 10 with 35 laps to go.
With 25 laps left in the stage, Harvick was making gains on Truex as Almirola continued in third.
Harvick cut Truex’s advantage to under a second with 10 laps still to go in the second stage but it looked unlikely he would challenge for the lead before its conclusion.
Logano did manage to pass Truex and return to the lead lap following his green-flag pit stop midway through the stage.
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