Truex, the 31-year-old younger brother of former Cup champion Martin Truex Jr., has come painstakingly close to victory in both the Xfinity and Truck series during his career.
He finally broke through to Victory Lane on Saturday in a dominating performance to win Saturday’s Xfinity race at his home track of Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.
Truex has been running a partial schedule this season with Joe Gibbs Racing. Two of his previous seven top-five finishes in 88 career starts have come driving JGR’s No. 19 Toyota this season.
Truex cycled through a late-race round of green-flag pit stops holding the lead despite a hiccup on his stop and cruised to a 4.8-second win over Josh Berry.
“I’m out of breath, man. Oh, my God,” said Truex, who is from nearby Mayetta, N.J. “I’m just so thankful – all these fans, my team, everybody that stuck behind me. Most people didn’t believe in me but I still did.
“I’m just so thankful to be here. It’s amazing. With 20 to go, I was just waiting for something to happen. I was praying, ‘Please, God, just keep everything straight and let’s get to the end of this.’
“What a car. I’m speechless. I’m not an emotional guy. This was for everyone that doubted me.”
Justin Allgaier finished third, Austin Hill fourth and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-five.
Cole Custer, who finished seventh, was the highest finishing driver among the four eligible and collected the final $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus of the season.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead-lap cars pit with Austin Hill first off pit road and taking the lead on the restart on Lap 100.
Truex soon reclaimed the top spot on Lap 112.
With 50 laps remaining in the race, Truex had built a 4.9-second lead over Austin Hill as Allgaier had moved into third.
On Lap 164, Nemechek and Sammy Smith were the first to hit pit road to kick off a round of green-flag pit stops for new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Truex had a slow stop after he brought his No. 19 Toyota in too close to pit wall, which cost his crew several seconds on pit road.
Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 190, Truex cycled back into the lead with five second advantage over Berry.
Stage 2
Truex dominated on his way to the Stage 2 win, beating Austin Hill by more than five seconds.
Nemechek was third, Allgaier fourth and Custer rounded out the top-five.
During pit stops between the break between Stages 1 and 2, Riley Herbst and Parker Retzclaff were both penalized for speeding and had to restart from the rear of the field.
Parker Kligerman, who started on the pole when qualifying got rained out, wrecked out of the race on Lap 46 after being hit by Corey Heim.
Stage 1
Once he got the lead, Truex easily held off Nemechek to take the Stage 1 win, his first career stage victory.
Sheldon Creed was third, Austin Hill fourth and Berry rounded out the top-five.
During the second caution of the race, Allgaier and Brett Moffitt were penalized for speeding on pit road and both had to restart from the rear of the field.