Triple threat Truex keeps Larson at bay
NASCAR CUP DARLINGTON (USA) 9 MAY ROUND 12/36
This NASCAR Cup season has so far been marked by numerous different winners, but standing out above the rest is Martin Truex Jr. The only repeat victor from the first 12 encounters, he collected his third triumph of the campaign at the wheel of his Toyota Camry in Darlington last Sunday.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver dominated events as he won both stages and led for 248 of the 293 laps to bring home the spoils ahead of Kyle Larson by almost 2.6 seconds. The only real challenge to fourth-starting Truex arrived in the last stage – which ended with a 104-lap run to the finish – after the final round of green-flag pitstops.
Chevrolet Camaro racer Larson came out of the stops with a deficit to Truex of around 1.5s and in the final 20 laps he was able to close to under a 1s on several occasions. Hendrick Motorsports driver Larson, though, could never get close enough to attempt a pass for the lead.
“We just had a good balance,” said Truex. “The car would do what I wanted it to do.
I just had to manage those long runs. The most important part is we are winning with the low downforce package, which most of the playoff races we run are. [A first win in March at] Phoenix was a really, really big confidence booster for us.
I feel like we’ve carried it since there.
We just have to keep this thing going.”
However, a fifth place for Denny Hamlin proved sufficient for the JGR charger to keep his team-mate off the top of the drivers’ standings, with Kyle Busch finishing the race in third ahead of William Byron.