Motorsports

Truex becomes model restrictor-plate pupil

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Martin Truex proved he is just as good at restrictor-plate racing as his boss and mentor, winning his second straight Busch Series race Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Truex, who drives a car co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., battled back after an early accident damaged his Chevrolet. He avoided several other crashes, a flurry of late cautions and an overtime finish.

With Kerry Earnhardt on his rear bumper, Truex jumped out on the restart of the three-lap overtime and pulled away.

Earnhardt got pushed out of the draft, and rookie Jon Wood pulled up to challenge Truex. But Wood never had had enough to make a run for the lead.

Truex, the reigning series champion, has won both races he has entered at Talladega.

"That's two-for-two at Talladega," Truex said. "That's a pretty good record and something I'm real proud of."

His boss is even better: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has five Cup victories and a Busch win in 2003.

Wood finished second. David Stremme was third, followed by Ashton Lewis Jr..

Despite losing his chance to win here and join his family's restrictor-plate legacy, Kerry Earnhardt was pleased with his fifth-place finish after starting 34th.

"We had a fast car. We just didn't have enough friends there at the end," he said.

The start was delayed more than three hours because of rain and the race was slowed by 10 cautions - including a 15-car accident that stopped the race for 18 minutes.

Truex was involved in that mishap, which happened on Lap 17. His car had minor damage, and his crew worked feverishly to fix the car and not lose much track time.

"What about this pit crew? They were throwing screws through the hood and beating on fenders," Truex said. "We got tape all over this thing and it still ran pretty good."

There was a spectacular crash near the end, when Casey Mears' car flipped onto its roof and slid several hundred yards down the track as cars dodged and darted, trying to avoid hitting him.

The wreck started when at least 20 lead-lap cars were jockeying for position. Joe Nemechek was moving along the outside to make a pass on Denny Hamlin and Mears, but he came down too low on the track. His car touched Hamlin's and spun out of control.

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 23:59:18]