Martin Truex Jr. won his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race of the season at the Monster Mile on Monday, after rain forced the postponement of Sunday’s race. Oddly enough, Truex’s first Cup win also came on a Monday, June 4, 2007. In all, Truex has three “Miles the Monster” statues in his trophy case, and his 21st win puts him at 37th on the all-time Cup winners’ list, tied with Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Benny Parsons, and Jack Smith. Talladega winner Chase Elliott led the most laps on Monday but faded to fifth at the checker. Despite the Toyota victory, it was a good day for Chevrolet, with Alex Bowman taking his second runner-up finish in a row and Kyle Larson third. Kevin Harvick was the first Ford, coming home fourth.
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The Dover finishing order sets up an interesting scenario for Kansas this weekend. Elliott, Truex, and Harvick have taken the last five Kansas Cup races: Elliott won last fall, Harvick last spring and the 2016 fall race, and Truex swept both races in 2017. Other recent Kansas winners are Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Jimmie Johnson. The Chevy brigade, after struggling with the new Camaro body last season, appears to be back on a performance par with the Fords and Toyotas and has a numerical advantage as well. There are 18 Camaros, 15 Mustangs, and seven Camrys on the 40-car entry list for Kansas. Watch the race on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 4:30 p.m. today.
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It’s a full weekend of racing coming up. In addition to NASCAR’s Cup and Truck series at Kansas, the NTT IndyCar series is on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Grand Prix of Indy, and Formula One at the Circuit De Barcelona — Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.
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Locally, Fernley 95A Speedway will run the third points race of the season with IMCA Modifieds, Sport Mods, Hobby Stock, and Gen-X classes on the program.
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This will be the sixth running of the Grand Prix of Indy, and only two drivers, both Team Penske members, have won it. Will Power has three victories to Simon Pagenaud’s two. Neither driver has visited the winner’s circle yet in 2019, but they must be the odds-on favorites this weekend. There are 24 drivers entered for the race, 12 less than the expected turnout for Indy 500 qualifying next weekend. NBC will carry the race live starting at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
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Across the pond, Mercedes will be trying to continue its domination of the 2019 F1 season in Barcelona. This is the track where Ferrari starred in preseason testing, and the Scuderia will attempt to recapture that scenario this weekend. Ferrari will also have an upgraded power unit for this race, but it’s an uphill battle based on historical performance. Mercedes has locked out the front row in qualifying for every Spanish Grand Prix except one since 2013. Lewis Hamilton has taken pole for Mercedes the last three years and won the race the last two. And 25 of the 28 Grands Prix at the circuit have been won from the front row. Will it be another front row lockout and 1-2 finish for the Silver Arrows? I wouldn’t bet against it. The race will air at 6:05 a.m. Sunday on ESPN2.
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