LOUDON, N.H. — Martin Truex Jr. mastered another Monday matinee to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 30 career Cup tries at the same track where as a kid he watched from the grandstands while his father raced.
Thanks to rain postponements, Truex won his second Monday race of the season — he also won at Dover — and fourth of his career.
Truex dominated in the No. 19 Toyota en route to his third win of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver secured one of the few wins he desperately wanted in a career that could be winding down. The 43-year-old Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said over the weekend he was close to a decision on his future: either retire or return for another season at JGR.
At the Magic Mile, it was simply time for an overdue celebration.
“This one’s been eluding me for a long, long time,” Truex said.
Truex led with 15 laps left when JGR teammate Christopher Bell, last year’s New Hampshire winner, smacked the wall to bring out the eighth caution.
“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is leading, don’t crash by yourself,” Truex said over the radio.
It really didn’t matter for Truex. He pulled away off the restart with nine laps left and could taste victory — and soon enough, the 20-pound lobster that traditionally goes to the winner.
It’s a perfect reward for Truex, who also grew up helping his dad on his family’s clam boat.
This win was special. Truex tagged along as a kid to New Hampshire when his dad raced here in the 1990s and got his first taste of the sights, smells and sounds of a NASCAR garage.
One memory stood out among the others: watching Dale Earnhardt tinker with his carburetor under the hood of his car.
“I just kind of stood there in awe and watched,” Truex said over the weekend.
And as soon as Truex could race at New Hampshire, he won. Truex had just turned 20 years old when he won a regional stock car series race at the track. Pretty cool. Even better? His father finished fifth in the same race.
“This place is a big reason why I got to where I am,” the younger Truex said.
Truex found early success in Loudon once he transitioned to Cup in 2006, rattling off a third-place finish and a fifth in 2007 when the series still raced here twice a season and a fourth and seventh in 2008. He had six straight top-10s from 2016 to 2020 and led 172 laps from the pole last season before he faded to fourth. Truex said his JGR team “panicked” with a late call for two tires that backfired and cost them the checkered flag.
“It’s one that I wanted really bad for a long time,” Truex said. “Maybe too much, I don’t know.”
Much like last year, Truex won the first two stages of the 301-lap race.
BUSCH BUMMER:Kyle Busch was forced to drive his backup car after the No. 8 Chevrolet suffered damage in both practice and qualifying. Busch hit the wall early in the race and was forced out after 71 laps. The two-time Cup champion finished last. Busch had one win and finished in the top 10 in each of his past seven races.
“I’ve been lacking right-rear grip the whole time we’ve been here,” he said. “Just couldn’t get the right-rear feel in the race track.”
UP NEXT: The series shifts to Pocono Raceway, where Chase Elliott is the defending race winner — even though he failed to finish first. Denny Hamlin had his Pocono win thrown out and so did runner-up Busch because of failed inspections. Hamlin was the first winner DQ’d since 1960.
The days leading up to the 2025 NHL trade deadline were a furious final sprint as contenders looked to stock up for a postseason run while rebuilding clubs added prospects and draft capital.
After the overnight Brock Nelson blockbuster Thursday, Friday lived up to expectations, with Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand and other high-profile players finishing the day on different teams than they started with. All told, NHL teams made 24 trades on deadline day involving 47 players.
Which teams and players won the day? Who might not feel as well about the situation after trade season? Reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identify the biggest winners and losers of the 2025 NHL trade deadline:
There are some who saw what the Carolina Hurricanes did at the trade deadline — or perhaps failed to do after they traded Mikko Rantanen — and believe they’re cooked when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, based on the projections from Stathletes, the Canes remain the team with the highest chances of winning the Cup, at 16.7%.
Standing before them on Sunday are the Winnipeg Jets (5 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Jets had a relatively quiet deadline, adding Luke Schenn and Brandon Tanev, though sometimes these additions are the types of small tweaks that can push a contender over the edge. As it stands, the Jets enter their showdown against the Canes with the sixth-highest Cup chances, at 8.7%.
Carolina has made two trips to the Cup Final: a loss to the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and a win over the Edmonton Oilers in 2006. The Canes have reached the conference finals three times since (2009, 2019, 2023). Winnipeg has yet to make the Cup Final, and was defeated 4-1 in the 2018 Western Conference finals by the Vegas Golden Knights in the club’s lone trip to the penultimate stage.
Both clubs are due. Will this be their year?
There is a lot of runway left until the final day of the season on April 17, and we’ll help you keep track of it all here on the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide detail on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 43 Regulation wins: 12 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 17 Points pace: 54.3 Next game: vs. NSH (Tuesday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 8
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters.
Hintz extended his stick toward Henrique, whose wrist shot sent the puck under Hintz’s visor during his club’s 5-4 loss to the Oilers. He was on the ice, with his face in a towel, as the team’s medical staff assessed him and helped him skate toward the dressing room.
After the loss, Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said Hintz was at a local hospital, receiving tests. The coach added that the initial report was fairly optimistic for Hintz, 28, who has 25 goals and 52 points.
“Everyone’s optimistic that it’s not ‘serious, serious,'” DeBoer said. “But we won’t know until we get testing.”
The short-handed Stars rallied from a 5-1 deficit before eventually losing. Trade deadline acquisition Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist in his debut for Dallas, which had its four-game winning streak stopped. Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn and Matt Dumba also scored for the Stars.