LOUDON, N.H. – Martin Truex Jr. kicked off his quest for a win at his home race track by dominating the opening stage of Sunday’s ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Truex stalked polesitter Kyle Busch for the entirety of the first half of the run before diving into Turn 3 on lap 40 and seizing command over the field, pacing the final 36 laps en route to his series-leading 19th stage win of the season.

The No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota took the green-checkered flag 2.953 seconds ahead of stage runner-up Kyle Larson.

Larson worked his way around Busch with 14 laps left before the stage break, relegating Busch to third after he paced the first 39 laps of the caution-free stint.

Rookie Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney completed the top five.

Playoff contenders Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick completed the points-scroing drivers among the top 10 at the stage break.

Among the remaining playoff-eligible drivers, Jamie McMurray was 11th, Austin Dillon was 14th, Kurt Busch finished 15th, Ryan Newman ended up 16th, Chase Elliott finished 17th and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crossed the line a distant 22nd after scraping the wall early on.

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

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