Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

Martin Truex Jr. blisters the field on way to Darlington win

In a NASCAR Cup Series season that has featured many different winners, Martin Truex has had no trouble standing out.

Watch: Final Laps: Martin Truex Jr. wins Goodyear 400 in dominating fashion

Race winner Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Auto-Owners Insurance
Race winner Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Auto-Owners Insurance
Race winner Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Auto-Owners Insurance
Race winner Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Auto-Owners Insurance
Race winner Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Auto-Owners Insurance

Truex completed dominated Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, leading a race-high 248 of 293 laps and cruised to a 2.571-second lead over Kyle Larson to secure his third series victory of the season.

No other driver has won more than once through 12 races.

 

The biggest challenge to Truex came following the final round of green-flag pit stops as Larson was able to close the gap on the leader to under several times in the final 20 laps.

At one point, Larson went three-wide and split two cars to continue his chase of Truex but in the final laps, Larson’s tires began to wear out and he lost ground.

 

The win is the 30th of Truex’s career and second at Darlington, the previous victory coming in the 2016 season.

“We’ve won a bunch of stages here in the past couple of years, lady luck just had us here,” Truex said. “Really proud of everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, a throwback (paint scheme) to Furniture Row ... this one’s for Furniture Row, pretty cool.

“We just had good balance, the car would do what I wanted it to do. It was really loose that last run and I was nervous with (Larson) catching us and we got mired in traffic. That’s always tough.”

Larson said he was surprised that he was able to close in on Truex late in the race.

“I caught him, I closed on pit road, was riding and actually had an opportunity to get by and thought I’d stay patient and he was better on the long run,” Larson said.

Kyle Busch finished third, William Byron was fourth and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Ryan Newman. Only nine cars finished on the lead lap.

Read Also:

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Truex once again the first car off pit road. Austin Dillon was penalized during his stop for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.

The race returned to green on Lap 194 with Truex out front and followed by Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Byron and Larson.

On Lap 202, Erik Jones, who had just returned to the lead lap, slapped the wall and was forced to pit under green for repairs.

Another round of green-flag pit stops got underway on Lap 224 as Joey Logano and several others dropped down on pit road to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the finish of the race.

Anthony Alfredo was penalized by NASCAR for speeding on pit road during his stop and had to serve a pass-through penalty.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 233, Truex remained the lead with a 2.5-second advantage over Kyle Busch. Larson was third, Logano fourth and Hamlin fifth.

On Lap 241, Larson got around Kyle Busch to take over the second spot, 3.5 seconds behind Truex.

A final round of green-flag stops began on Lap 257 with teams wanting new tires to make it to the end of the race.

Logano was penalized by NASCAR for speeding on pit road and had to serve a pass-through penalty.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 259, Truex again remained in the lead, but his advantage over Larson had dropped to 1.9 seconds.

With 30 laps to go, Larson cut his deficit to under a second as Kyle Busch ran third.

Larson remained in the hunt for the win with 20 laps remaining, trailing Truex by just under a second as Kyle Busch ran third.

Stage 2

Truex absolutely dominated the second stage of the race, rolling to the Stage 2 win by nearly 15 seconds over Kyle Busch.

Byron was third, Hamlin fourth and Larson rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, the lead-lap cars all pit with Truex the first off pit road. Larson was penalized for speeding on pit road and was forced to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart on Lap 98, Truex was followed by Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Harvick and Logano.

On Lap 99, Cole Custer got hit by Anthony Alfredo coming off Turn 2 and slammed into the wall, damaging his No. 41 Ford beyond repair. Custer quickly became the second Stewart-Haas Racing car to wreck out of the race.

The race returned to green on Lap 105 with Truex still in command.

Following contact with Bubba Wallace, Kurt Busch slammed the frontstretch inside wall on Lap 107 and an oil fire briefly erupted underneath his No. 1 Chevrolet.

 

Several cars, including Truex, decided to pit and Christopher Bell was penalized during his stop for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field. Hamlin remained on the track and led the way on the restart on Lap 115.

Truex, on the fresher tires, took only two turns following the restart to reclaim the lead.

On Lap 140, Alex Bowman was forced to pit under green for a flat tire.

With just over 40 laps remaining in the first stage, drivers again started a round of green-flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the finish.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 150, Truex was back out front and held a nearly 4-second lead over Byron with Kyle Busch in third.

With 30 laps to go in the second stage, Truex had pushed his lead over Byron to 5.3 seconds. Kyle Busch was third, Logano fourth and Hamlin rounded out the top-five.

With five laps remaining, Truex’s lead had ballooned to nearly 13 seconds over Kyle Busch.

Stage 1

After a difficult time navigating lapped traffic, Truex held off a fast-approaching Hamlin to take the Stage 1 win.

Reddick was third, Larson fourth and Harvick rounded out the top-five.

Brad Keselowski, who started on the pole, led the first four laps until Harvick dived below him to take the top spot on Lap 5.

Aric Almirola spun coming off Turn 2 after contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on Lap 6 and pounded the backstretch wall to bring out the first caution. His No. 10 Ford was damaged beyond repair.

A handful of lead-lap cars pit but Harvick remained on the track and in the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 12.

Kyle Busch got around Harvick in Turn 3 on Lap 14 to take the lead for the first time.

On Lap 22, Kyle Busch appeared to tag the wall and spun as Truex got around him to take the lead. Busch took his No. 18 Toyota directly to pit road. NASCAR indicated this would serve as the competition caution.

 

All the lead-lap cars pit with Truex the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 29, Truex was followed by Reddick and Harvick.

Halfway through the first stage, Truex had opened up a 2-second lead over Reddick with Hamlin in third and Harvick having dropped back to fourth.

On Lap 56, Hamlin moved into the second spot, more than 3.5 seconds behind Truex. Reddick dropped to third.

Harvick dropped to pit road on Lap 60, the first among the leaders to make a green-flag stop to get new tires.

Once the cycle of green-flag stops was completed on Lap 72, Truex remained the leader followed by Hamlin and Harvick.

With 10 laps to go in the first stage, Truex opened up a 2-second lead over Hamlin followed by Harvick and Reddick.

Both Almirola (multiple inspection failures) and Elliott (unapproved adjustments) had to start the race from the rear of the field.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Laps Led
1 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 293 3:14'20.439     248
2 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 293 3:14'23.010 2.571 2.571  
3 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 293 3:14'26.648 6.209 3.638 9
4 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 293 3:14'37.506 17.067 10.858  
5 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 293 3:14'42.378 21.939 4.872 5
6 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 293 3:14'44.390 23.951 2.012 10
7 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 293 3:14'45.178 24.739 0.788  
8 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 293 3:14'47.106 26.667 1.928  
9 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 293 3:14'47.516 27.077 0.410 1
10 6 United States Ryan Newman Ford 292 3:14'24.782 1 Lap 1 Lap  
11 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 292 3:14'25.225 1 Lap 0.443  
12 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 292 3:14'25.744 1 Lap 0.519 2
13 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 292 3:14'32.229 1 Lap 6.485  
14 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 292 3:14'42.726 1 Lap 10.497 3
15 42 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 291 3:14'22.179 2 Laps 1 Lap 10
16 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 291 3:14'25.867 2 Laps 3.688  
17 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 291 3:14'30.777 2 Laps 4.910  
18 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 291 3:14'50.123 2 Laps 19.346  
19 21 United States Matt DiBenedetto Ford 290 3:14'24.243 3 Laps 1 Lap  
20 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 290 3:14'27.996 3 Laps 3.753  
21 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 290 3:14'31.535 3 Laps 3.539  
22 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 290 3:14'40.303 3 Laps 8.768  
23 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 290 3:14'45.135 3 Laps 4.832  
24 2 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 290 3:14'48.998 3 Laps 3.863 4
25 37 United States Ryan Preece Chevrolet 290 3:14'49.099 3 Laps 0.101  
26 38 Anthony Alfredo Ford 289 3:14'53.637 4 Laps 1 Lap  
27 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 288 3:14'35.622 5 Laps 1 Lap  
28 77 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 288 3:14'54.434 5 Laps 18.812  
29 53 United States J.J. Yeley Ford 286 3:14'23.358 7 Laps 2 Laps  
30 00 United States Quin Houff Chevrolet 286 3:14'48.503 7 Laps 25.145  
31 15 Australia James Davison Chevrolet 286 3:14'48.730 7 Laps 0.227  
32 78 United States B.J. McLeod Ford 285 3:14'51.255 8 Laps 1 Lap  
33 52 United States Josh Bilicki Ford 245 3:14'32.833 48 Laps 40 Laps  
34 51 United States Cody Ware Chevrolet 188 2:21'27.581 105 Laps 57 Laps 1
35 1 United States Kurt Busch Chevrolet 106 1:18'35.767 187 Laps 82 Laps  
36 41 United States Cole Custer Ford 97 1:09'26.990 196 Laps 9 Laps  
37 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 5 2'40.138 288 Laps 92 Laps  

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article Next Gen's 'huge architecture change' not all in its looks
Next article Larson waited for 'a mistake' from Truex but it never came

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA