Truex Dominates in Darlington

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Goodyear 400 from Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Truex was dominant on Sunday, and won both stages while leading a race-high 248 laps.

After the victory, Truex commented on how he became the first stage winner to finally take the checkered flag at Darlington.

“We’ve won a bunch of stages here the last couple of years; always lady luck got us,” Truex said.  “Really proud of everybody on this Auto Owner’s Camry.”

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While dominant throughout the day, Truex had to hold off Kyle Larson over the final green-flag run.  After Larson made up some time during the final green-flag pit cycle, he was able to chase down Truex as he worked his way through lapped traffic.

Hamlin said the heavy traffic at the end of the race allowed Larson to challenge for the lead.

“I knew the car would do what I wanted it to do, and I just had to manage those long runs,” Truex said.  “It was really loose that last run, and I was nervous with the 5 catching us.  We got mired in some traffic there.”

Larson said he was surprised he was able to challenge at the end of the race with how bad his car handled all afternoon.

“Felt like we were not very good all day, but I passed a lot of cars and found myself towards the front,” Larson said.  “I was surprised I was able to get to him…he was just a little better than I was on the long run.”

“Fun to come here to Darlington with low downforce and during the day.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Larson

3. Kyle Busch

4. William Byron

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Chase Elliott

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Chris Buescher

10. Ryan Newman

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Joey Logano

14. Christopher Bell

15. Ross Chastain

16. Austin Dillon

17. Alex Bowman

18. Erik Jones

19. Matt DiBenedetto

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Ryan Preece

26. Anthony Alfredo

27. Michael McDowell

28. Justin Haley

29. JJ Yeley

30. Quin Houff

31. James Davison

32. BJ McLeod

33. Josh Bilicki

34. Cody Ware

35. Kurt Busch

36. Cole Custer

37. Aric Almirola

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