Truex Wins Darlington in Dominating Fashion

DARLINGTON, SC – RIS – You might say that it was Martin Truex, Jr.’s day in the Goodyear 400 NASCAR Cup race on Sunday.  If you did say it, you would be correct.  Truex led 248 of 293 laps and the last 105 in totally dominating fashion.  He first took the lead on Lap 22 and only gave it up during pit stops or cautions.  Kyle Larson cut into Truex’s often large lead over the final 30 laps, coming as close as two car-lengths down the stretch. But the Joe Gibbs Racing driver held him off for his second victory of the season.

“Hopefully, we can keep this rolling,” Truex said.

In fact, Truex is good at this track.  Last September. Truex led 196 laps, but after a tangle with Chase Elliott, he only finished 22nd.  He proved just how good he is at this old track today.  Even though Larson gained on him at the end, Truex was in complete control all afternoon.  He kept the lead by running out front all day sometimes as much as 10-seconds from his competition.

It was Truex’s 30th career victory and he now has multiple wins on the season which gives him quite an advantage in the driver standings.  Truex took control midway through the first of three stages, moving in front on a restart and settling in for a long ride up front. Truex led the final 21 laps to take the first stage, then the last 36 as he collected the second stage win by some 14 seconds over his JGR teammate Kyle Busch. Truex broke out when racing resumed for the final stage and easily managed a couple of rounds of green-flag pits stops to stay ahead.

Larson was second with Truex’s teammate, Kyle Busch, third. William Byron was fourth and Denny Hamlin, who came in as the NASCAR points’ leader, was fifth. Truex won the first two stages and got the checkered flag in the end.

It was a rough day for Kurt Busch.  Busch seemed like he was headed for a strong finish at Darlington when he gave the track one of most iconic moments, finishing second here in 2003 to Ricky Craven in a side-by-side duel where he lost by 0.002 seconds. But Busch hasn’t come that close to a Darlington victory in 22 races since. His latest start ended in flames after he hit the inside wall and the liquid his car spewed caught on fire.\

“It’s been a rough year and this just adds to it,” said the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who was unhurt in the incident.

The race was different than what we saw a year ago.  There wasn’t a full house, but fans were in the stands.  Some fans even could roam the infield for the first time since the coronavirus shut down stock-car racing in March 2020. Darlington officials said they will open the grandstands to all who want to come for the Southern 500 on Sept. 5.

Next for NASCAR is a triple-header at Dover, Delaware next weekend.  The Camping World trucks on Friday, the Xfinity Series on Saturday and the Cup series on Sunday at the high-banked concrete track.

Unofficial Results: 2nd Annual Goodyear 400: May 9, 2021: Darlington Raceway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status

1) 4, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 293, 1, 1, 7, 248, 7, 60, Running

2) 14, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet, 293, 4, 5, , , , 48, Running

3) 3, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 293, , 2, 2, 9, , 43, Running

4) 5, William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Throwback Chevrolet, 293, 9, 3, , , , 43, Running

5) 7, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota, 293, 2, 4, 2, 5, , 48, Running

6) 2, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Throwback Ford, 293, 5, , 2, 10, , 37, Running

7) 6, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Throwback Chevrolet, 293, 8, , , , , 33, Running

8) 16, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford, 293, 7, 9, , , , 35, Running

9) 11, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 293, , 10, 1, 1, , 29, Running

10) 20, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford, 292, , , , , , 27, Running

11) 22, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 HighPoint.com Throwback Ford, 292, , , , , , 26, Running

12) 10, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Quartz Hill Records Chevrolet, 292, 3, 8, 2, 2, , 36, Running

13) 12, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 292, 6, 7, , , , 33, Running

14) 21, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 292, , 6, 1, 3, , 28, Running

15) 18, Ross Chastain, No. 42 McDonald's Chevrolet, 291, , , 1, 10, , 22, Running

16) 9, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 291, , , , , , 21, Running

17) 19, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet, 291, 10, , , , , 21, Running

18) 26, Erik Jones, No. 43 STP Chevrolet, 291, , , , , , 19, Running

19) 8, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, 290, , , , , , 18, Running

20) 28, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Tide Chevrolet, 290, , , , , , 17, Running

21) 23, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Root Insurance Toyota, 290, , , , , , 16, Running

22) 30, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 In Memory of Alan Kulwicki Chevrolet, 290, , , , , , 15, Running

23) 15, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Camping World Throwback Chevrolet, 290, , , , , , 14, Running

24) 1, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Freightliner Ford, 290, , , 1, 4, , 13, Running

25) 29, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Velveeta Chevrolet, 290, , , , , , 12, Running

26) 25, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 We Care Ford, 289, , , , , , 11, Running

27) 13, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Fr8 Auctions Ford, 288, , , , , , 10, Running

28) 31, Justin Haley(I), No. 77 FOE Mother's Day Chevrolet, 288, , , , , , 0, Running

29) 34, JJ Yeley(i), No. 53 FatBoy Ice Cream Chevrolet, 286, , , , , , 0, Running

30) 35, Quin Houff, No. 00 Bos Klein/RCA Chevrolet, 286, , , , , , 7, Running

31) 36, James Davison, No. 15 HOPEGIVERS Throwback Chevrolet, 286, , , , , , 6, Running

32) 32, BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 CorvetteParts.net/Keen Parts Ford, 285, , , , , , 0, Running

33) 37, Josh Bilicki, No. 52 Insurance King Throwback Ford, 245, , , , , , 4, Running

34) 33, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 NURTEC ODT Throwback Chevrolet, 188, , , 1, 1, , 0, Driveshaft

35) 17, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 2, Accident

36) 24, Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Mother's Day Ford, 97, , , , , , 1, Accident

37) 27, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield/Winn-Dixie Ford, 5, , , , , , 1, Accident

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 21 Secs.

Race Length: 293 Laps, 400.238 Miles

Average Speed: 123.562 MPH

Margin of Victory: 2.571 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 11, 8, 5, 4, 22, 12, 9, 24, 48

Stage 2 Top 10: 19, 18, 24, 11, 5, 20, 22, 8, 12, 17

Comments: Martin Truex Jr. won the 2nd running of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 30th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 9 (unapproved adjustments), No. 10 (multiple inspection failures).

Caution Flags: 6 for 36 laps;

Laps: 7-11 (No. 10 Incident Backstretch [None]);

23-28 (No. 18 Incident Turn 4/Competition Cuation [None]);

92-97 (Stage 1 Conclusion [1]);

100-104 (No. 41, 38 Incident Backstretch [14]);

108-114 (No. 1, 23 Incident Frontstretch [None]);

187-193 (Stage 2 Conclusion [43]).

Lead Changes: 19 among 10 drivers;

B. Keselowski 1-4;

K. Harvick 5-13;

K. Busch 14-21;

M. Truex Jr. 22-24;

T. Reddick 25;

C. Ware(i) 26;

M. Truex Jr. 27-60;

T. Reddick 61;

R. Chastain 62-71;

M. Truex Jr. 72-92;

D. Hamlin 93;

M. Truex Jr. 94-110;

D. Hamlin 111-114;

M. Truex Jr. 115-144;

C. Buescher 145;

K. Harvick 146;

C. Bell 147-149;

M. Truex Jr. 150-187;

K. Busch 188;

M. Truex Jr. 189-293.

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Chase Briscoe, No. 14