Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

Instacart 500

Phoenix Raceway

March 14th, 2021

Race #5 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 312
Miles Raced : 318.9
Time of Race : 03 Hours 00 minutes 20 seconds
Average Speed: 103.808 mph
Margin of Victory : 01.698 seconds
Cautions: 7
Caution Laps: 45
Lead Changes: 22
Cars in Race : 38
Finished On Lead Lap: 24 (63%)

Martin Truex Jr celebrates — Avondale, Arizona - March 14th, 2021: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Bass Pro Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 14, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. Photo by Christian Petersen | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	5	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	49	40	9	5	312	64	3	0	2	Running
2	9	22	Joey Logano	Ford	54	35	19	1	312	143	6	2	1	Running
3	3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	49	34	15	0	312	33	3	4	3	Running
4	1	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	48	33	15	0	312	19	5	3	4	Running
5	6	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	40	32	8	0	312	0	0	5	9	Running
6	18	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	40	31	9	0	312	0	0	7	6	Running
7	2	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	32	30	2	0	312	1	1	9	0	Running
8	10	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	36	29	7	0	312	0	0	8	7	Running
9	4	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	29	28	1	0	312	0	0	0	10	Running
10	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	43	27	16	1	312	35	1	1	5	Running
11	32	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	29	26	3	0	312	0	0	0	8	Running
12	11	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	25	25	0	0	312	1	1	0	0	Running
13	21	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	24	24	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
14	20	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	24	23	1	0	312	0	0	10	0	Running
15	12	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	22	22	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
16	25	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	21	21	0	0	312	4	2	0	0	Running
17	13	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	20	20	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
18	17	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	19	19	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
19	22	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
20	14	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	17	17	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
21	27	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
22	26	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	15	15	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
23	16	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	14	14	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
24	29	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	312	0	0	0	0	Running
25	7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	17	12	5	0	311	0	0	6	0	Running
26	15	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	11	11	0	0	311	0	0	0	0	Running
27	33	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	10	10	0	0	311	12	1	0	0	Running
28	19	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	9	9	0	0	311	0	0	0	0	Running
29	23	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	310	0	0	0	0	Running
30	30	78	BJ McLeod	Ford	0	0	0	0	309	0	0	0	0	Running
31	24	41	Cole Custer	Ford	6	6	0	0	308	0	0	0	0	Running
32	35	0	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	5	5	0	0	305	0	0	0	0	Running
33	38	15	James Davison	Chevrolet	4	4	0	0	303	0	0	0	0	Running
34	34	53	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
35	36	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	2	2	0	0	258	0	0	0	0	Power Steering
36	31	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	101	0	0	0	0	Accident
37	28	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	1	1	0	0	87	0	0	0	0	Accident
38	37	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	0	0	0	0	15	0	0	0	0	Engine

Race Infractions

Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Kyle Larson	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Chase Elliott	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved adjustment	Tail End	0	0	White
Cody Ware	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
William Byron	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Garrett Smithley	Pre-Race to the Rear Driver change	Tail End	0	0	White
Quin Houff	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved adjustment	Tail End	0	0	White
Kyle Larson	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	32	36	Yellow
Anthony Alfredo	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	35	36	Yellow
Austin Dillon	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	47	51	Yellow
Alex Bowman	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	47	51	Yellow
Anthony Alfredo	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	48	51	Yellow
Josh Bilicki	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	50	51	Yellow
Daniel Suarez	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	78	83	Yellow
Justin Haley	Removing equipment from assigned pit area	Tail End	78	83	Yellow
Cody Ware	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	89	98	Yellow
Josh Bilicki	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	96	98	Yellow
Kyle Busch	Tire violation	Pass Thru	141	147	Green
Kyle Larson	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	142	145	Green
Josh Bilicki	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	145	147	Green
Aric Almirola	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	193	199	Yellow
Chase Elliott	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	193	199	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	193	199	Yellow
Tyler Reddick	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	251	253	Green
Tyler Reddick	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	262	268	Yellow
Chase Briscoe	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	263	268	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	283	287	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

Phoenix Raceway
17th Annual Instacart 500
Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
Age: 40
Team : No. 19 - Bass Pro Toyota
Owner: Coy Gibbs
Crew Chief: James Small
Martin Truex Jr. won the 17th Annual Instacart 500, his 28th victory in 554 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in 2021, breaking a 29-race winless streak. Truex's last win came at Martinsville Speedway on June 10, 2020.
This is his first victory and 13th top-10 finish in 31 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Joey Logano (second) posted his 14th top-10 finish in 25 races at Phoenix Raceway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2021.
Denny Hamlin (third) posted his 19th top-10 finish in 32 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Chase Briscoe (22nd) was the highest finishing rookie.
Joe Gibbs Racing (Truex, Christopher Bell) joins Hendrick Motorsports (William Byron, Kyle Larson) with two drivers qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Race Recap

Martin Truex Jr. ends 29-race winless streak with Phoenix victory

March 14th, 2021

By Holly Cain - NASCAR Wire Service

Martin Truex Jr. overcame an early-race brush with the wall and took the lead on the final restart with 25 laps remaining to earn his first victory of 2021 and first in 31 career starts at Phoenix Raceway.

Truex's No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota ultimately held off Joey Logano's No. 22 Penske Racing Ford by a convincing 1.698-seconds for the win in the Instacart 500. The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Truex took the race lead from the outside on a bold restart move - pulling away in the closing laps of a spirited race that featured 22 lead changes.

Truex, 40, of New Jersey, is now the fifth different winner in as many NASCAR Cup Series races this season joining Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Kyle Larson who have also earned spots in the Playoffs.

"Just an awesome job by everybody, [crew chief] James [Small], all the pit crew guys fixing it, just really solid," said Truex, who now has 28 career wins. "At the beginning of the race I thought we were going to run 15th or so. Man, I just really can't believe it. I'm kind of speechless.

"This feels pretty amazing. Phoenix has been a tough one for us.

"I wish it was November and I was in the Final Four," he added with a smile, referring to the season championship finale at Phoenix Raceway later in the year. "Just so thankful and proud of everyone at JGR, everyone who makes this possible."

Statistically, Logano's Ford was the dominant car on the afternoon, leading a race best 143 of the 312 laps and winning Stage 2 - his first stage win of the year. His Penske Racing teammate Ryan Blaney won Stage 1 (also his first stage victory of 2021) and all three Penske Racing cars finished in the Top-10. In all, the Penske trio of Logano, Blaney and Keselowski combined to lead 197 laps - out front 63 percent of the day.

Logano started alongside Truex on the front row for the final restart and mounted a challenge for the lead, but he couldn't hold off Truex even with a more favorable inside starting position.

"I was surprised he was able to hang with me on that [final] start," a disappointed Logano conceded of Truex's winning move. "He had a good start too, but I had a good one on the bottom and I thought might have short-cut it on the dogleg and I thought, boy I might have him cleared. Then we went into that corner still door-to-door and when you're door-to-door the outside car has control.

"I'm pretty sure even if I beat him even on that start he was still going to hound me and probably get by me. They had the best car. We had a good car for sure, but once they tuned it in toward the second stage, it was the best car on the race track."

Truex's JGR teammate Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Logano's teammate Brad Keselowski and last November's Phoenix winner Chase Elliott in fifth.

Kevin Harvick, a nine-time Phoenix winner, was sixth, earning his fourth Top-10 finish in the season's opening five races. Last week's Las Vegas winner Kyle Larson was seventh, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron was eighth followed by JGR driver Christopher Bell and Blaney to round out the Top-10.

Even without the victory, it was an impressive showing for the three Hendrick Motorsports cars that rallied to a Top-10. Elliott, Larson and Byron all had to start from the rear of the field on Sunday with inspection issues. And the fourth Hendrick car, driven by Alex Bowman, was equally resilient with a 13th place finish despite hitting the wall and bringing out an early race caution flag.

Larson, in particular put on a lesson in resiliency. He rallied to race among the Top-10 - even lead a lap - a third of the way into the race - but was sent back to the rear of the lead lap cars twice after that because of pit road speeding violations.