HAMPTON, Ga.: No, it wasn’t a win for Ryan Truex on his 31st birthday on Saturday night at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, but he did deliver another strong top-five finish in the RAPTOR King of Tough 250.
By all accounts, it was a relatively quiet night for the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra at Atlanta, but when push came to shove in the closing laps of the fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season, Truex found himself in the hunt for his first career victory.
A two-lap shootout saw Truex stay tucked up behind Brett Moffitt on the outside lane as the cars screamed into Turn 1. Staying tucked behind Moffitt in fourth, Truex took the white flag in sixth and waited until the cars exited Turns 3 and 4 to make his move.
Giving Moffitt the boot from fourth exiting Turn 4 onto the front straightaway, Truex shot his No. 19 Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota Supra through the middle coming with the checkered flag insight.
Ahead, the three leads cars of Austin Hill, Parker Kligerman and Daniel Hemric were beating and banging for the win. The contact sent Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet around blocking the bottom lane and allowing Truex to squeeze through the smoke and narrowly avoiding a slowing Riley Herbst to cross the start – finish line in third.
The finish matches Truex’s finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway last July.
Saturday night also marked the first time that Truex has finished back-to-back top-fives for the first time in his Xfinity Series career.
“I saw cars wrecking and I just didn’t lift. I saw a lane, but if it was like Talladega and the start-finish line was down there, I probably would have won,” said Truex after the race. “That’s racing. It was a crazy race. I didn’t expect it to be the way it was.
“Man, Parker Kligerman’s car was so good. We were riding single file there for a while and he just made his lane by himself and drove all the way to the front. That’s what pulled everyone with him. I ended up getting shuffled out and getting pushed to the back.”
Truex said he thought he would have an opportunity to contend for a side-by-side finish but was still satisfied for his second top-five finish of the season and 29th career top-10.
“Our GR Supra was fast enough to drive back through the field. I pushed Brett (Moffitt), my old buddy, as hard as I could that whole last lap,” sounded Truex. “I never got off his bumper and I thought we would have had a chance at a side-by-side finish for the win. All in all, it was a good day. Glad we brought home another good finish.”
After two straight races in the No. 19 Toyota Supra, the part-time JGR driver will sit out next weekend’s race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and Richmond (Va.) Raceway before returning at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on April 15th.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
