Michael Waltrip Racing.

Dover 56 Race Report

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota, finished 30th and is 20th in points. 

MARTIN TRUEX JR. SUMMARY:  No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Martin Truex Jr. battled handling issues and a cut tire before finishing 30th in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver started on the pole for the second time in his career at the Monster Mile. Truex led the first two laps - upping his total to 148 in 2011 - before reporting an ill-handling car. He lost a lap to the leaders and spent most of the race attempting to return to the lead lap. It appeared he would regain the lost lap, but a cut tire after contact with another car caused an unscheduled pit stop leaving Truex with a 30th-place finish. Truex and the No. 56 team return to NASCAR Sprint Cup action on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
 
TRUEX JR. NOTES:
· Started first and finished 30th.
· Led race’s first two laps.
· Led five of the last six races.
· Reported his car bounced and lacked rear grip.
· Cut a tire with less than 100 laps to go forcing unscheduled pit stop.
 
TRUEX QUOTE: "This certainly wasn't the day we expected to have that's for sure. We started on  the pole and expected to have a strong run, but man, it got ugly out there for us. Our car lost all its rear grip and it bounced real bad. We tried so hard and yet we found ourselves down some laps. When we got into contention to race our way back onto the lead lap and salvage something, we cut a tire when someone got into us. That pretty much ended our chance to rebound. This NAPA Racing team usually runs very well here. Dover is one of my strongest tracks obviously so we've got to sit down and figure out what went wrong.”

RACE NOTES
· Kurt Busch beat Jimmie Johnson to the checkered flag by 0.908 seconds.
· Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five. 
· The race featured 24 lead changes among 13 drivers
· Ten cautions slowed the race 44 laps for an average speed of 119.413 MPH.
· The race lasted three hours, 30 minutes and 59 seconds.
· NASCAR estimated the crowd at 83,000