During one 16.6-second stop, Harvick fell from first to 12th and while he got back to second, correctly said on the radio after that stop, “It’s pretty much over at this point”.
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Truex did what he was supposed to do, which was race the track and then the drivers.
Simon Pagenaud finished seventh and increased his lead over Will Power to 43 points standings with one race remaining in the season.
“We never lost confidence, I don’t think”, said Truex.
Harvick led the most laps of any driver but errors during his pit-stops cost him multiple positions during the 367-lap race. Edwards has finished in the top 10 eight times in 12 starts at Darlington. Harvick was second, followed by Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. Keselowski ran second, Chase Elliott was third, and Logano and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.
“This is unbelievable”, said Truex to NASCAR. I absolutely love that race track. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver led 45 laps and felt good about running up front for a second straight race.
It’s Truex’s first Darlington win and second at the track for single-car Furniture Row Racing, which went to Victory Lane in 2011 with Regan Smith. The track had its date taken away after 2003 due to Sprint Cup schedule realignment. One week earlier at MI, his pit crew likely cost him a shot at victory – but on Sunday, they were money.
“Same old thing. You get in a position where you bring a dominant auto – the guys in the shop and the guys in the garage are doing a great job and the guys on pit road are doing a awful job”, Harvick said. “It’s been that way for a few years”, he said.
The three-time Darlington victor has six finishes of fourth or better in the last ten races here, including three in his last four. Trevor Bayne spun in Turn 4 for the race’s first caution on Lap 96. His crew brought the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports machine behind the wall.
Tropical storm Hermine made sure Chris Buescher’s path to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup would be just a bit more hard.
Doctors told him back during a previous concussion in 2012 he’d return to form and Earnhardt says he’s been told that once more.
“I feel like they’re my only sanity check, because I’m like, ‘Well, at least it happens to them, too, ‘” Pearn said about the Harvick team.
Jeff Gordon checks out his vehicle before NASCAR Sprint Cup auto racing practice at Darlington Raceway Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Darlington, S.C. Stewart later claimed innocence, but NASCAR summoned him and crew chief Michael Bugarewicz for a postrace meeting. This is a race I always wanted to win.
Stewart’s race ended early when an overheating engine expired 49 laps from the end. Over 30 teams will be racing throwback paint schemes.
Harvick indicated he was beyond giving encouragement to his pit crew.
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Lap leaders: Harvick 1-93; Keselowski 94-138; Harvick 139-162; Keselowski 163-164; Harvick 165-251; Hamlin 252-261; Kyle Busch 262; Kenseth 263-272; Harvick 273-281; Hamlin 282-284; Larson 285-329; Newman 330-338; Truex 339-350;. He reached the final race in Homestead a year ago among the last four standing and thinks everyone in the program has worked to improve their chances. “With the Chase coming, get that confidence up and another win in the pocket”.
