Martin Truex Jr. rallies past Hamlin for Martinsville victory - NASCAR

Martin Truex Jr. roared to a second-day NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday evening, bypassing teammate Denny Hamlin and adding to his recent mastery record at Martinsville Speedway.

Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota set the pace for just 20 of the 500 laps in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. His third win in the last four Martinsville races — and third grandfather clock trophy — marked the 29th triumph of his Cup Series career.

Truex also became the first repeat winner in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, snapping a streak of seven different winners to start the year. Truex also won earlier this season at Phoenix.

Chase Elliott finished as the runner-up, his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet winding up 1.972 seconds behind at the checkered flag. A once-dominant Hamlin led a race-high 276 laps but faded to place third. Hendrick teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five in that order.

Ryan Blaney swept both stages and led 157 laps, but dropped from contention after his No. 12 Team Penske Ford tugged its air hose out of its pit stall on the team’s final stop. He restarted 19th after a penalty and recovered to finish 11th.

A 12-car stack-up forced a red flag with 387 laps complete. Chris Buescher and Kyle Busch collided at the exit of Turn 2, clogging the backstraight as other drivers piled in. Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez were among those sidelined.

MORE: Major wreck thins Martinsville field

The race was forced to a Sunday finish after persistent rainfall limited teams to just 42 laps on its scheduled date Saturday night. The Xfinity Series also finished its 250-lap race Sunday after showers and storms halted Friday night’s start after 91 laps.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race is scheduled Sunday, April 18 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) at Richmond Raceway.

This story will be updated.

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