Martin Truex Jr. wins third NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington raceway
Martin Truex Jr. got anxious in a hurry near the furthest limit of his dominating drive at Darlington Raceway.
Barely pushed much of Sunday’s race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver unexpectedly saw Kyle Larson getting up to speed in the end laps.
Truex, however, approached his steady demeanor and track focus to pull away for his third NASCAR Cup Series triumph this season.
Not that it was simple.
At the point when Truex saw Larson right behind him within 30 laps left, he said he thought, “Oh, man, he’s right behind me.”
“Your heart rate goes up,” he continued, “Your anxiety goes up.”
Rapidly, Truex had returned to his consistent, stalwart driving at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
“Hopefully, we can keep this rolling,” Truex said.
Truex’s car owner, Joe Gibbs, disclosed to him thereafter that Larson gave the three-time Super Bowl-winning coach a scare.
“Yeah, he scared me too,” Truex told him.
The triumph gave Truex some restitution at Darlington from the last time here in September, when he drove 196 laps, yet finished 22nd after tangling for the lead late with Chase Elliott.
This time, Truex ensured he had no issues by running out front – frequently holding a 10-second lead on the field – to win for the second time at the track.
Truex drove 248 of the 293 laps for his 30th vocation triumph in NASCAR’s top arrangement. He is the lone driver with various successes throughout the year’s initial 12 races.
“It’s fun when you’re out front,” Truex said. “You’re always just mindful on staying focused on what you’re doing.”
Nobody was more engaged at Darlington than Truex.
He took control midway through the first of three phases, moving in front on a restart and getting comfortable for a long ride in advance. Truex drove the last 21 laps to take the main stage and afterward the last a day and a half, he gathered the second-stage win by somewhere in the range of 14 seconds over his JGR partner Kyle Busch.
Truex broke out when dashing continued for the last stage and handily dealt several rounds of green-banner pits stops to remain ahead.
Larson was second, with Busch third. William Byron was fourth, and Denny Hamlin, who came in as the NASCAR focuses’ chief, was fifth.
Larson energized hard to get, in any event, utilizing an emotional sliding pass between Ryan Newman and Tyler Reddick to keep chasing the lead.
“Glad I didn’t wreck there,” Larson said with a smile.
WHO’S HOT
Busch followed up his first success of the period at Kansas a week ago with a strong third spot at Darlington. It was Busch’s 6th top-10 completion in his previous seven races here. Busch’s solitary triumph at Darlington came in 2008.
WHO’S NOT
Kurt Busch appeared as though he was set out toward huge things at Darlington when he gave the track one of most famous minutes, completing second here in 2003 to Ricky Craven in a next to each other duel he lost by 0.002 seconds. However, Busch hasn’t come that near a Darlington triumph in 22 races since. His most recent beginning finished on fire after he hit within divider and the fluid his vehicle regurgitated burst into flames. “It’s been a rough year, and this just adds to it,” said the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who was safe in the occurrence.
Hello, ISN’T THAT … ?
There were a modest bunch of NASCAR visitors and fans permitted to wander the carport region, the first occasion when that has been allowed in the game since stock vehicle hustling was closed down in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. Kevin Harvick succeeded at Darlington last May without fans in the office and with around 8,000 or so in the stands. There were about twofold that sum here on Sunday, and Darlington authorities said they’ll open the grandstands to all who need to come for the Southern 500 on Sept. 5.
UP NEXT
NASCAR heads to Dover International Speedway for another triple-header end of the week. The Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series will happen before the Cup Series race at the Monster Mile. Harvick won the Cup Series occasion there in 2020, part of his season-best nine victories.
