Truex did what he was supposed to do, which was race the track and then the drivers.
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The yellow flag waved one additional time, the 10th time in the race, on lap 349.
“There is something to them working together but I think there is something more in everybody believing in each other and leaving the egos and all the bullshit at the house and coming here and work together as a team”, he said. “I just couldn’t be more excited”.
However, with a poor pit stop on lap 280, Harvick lost important track position and had to restart 12 after entering pit road while in the lead. The mistake dropped Harvick from first to 12th and was one he couldn’t quite overcome, a problem he’s faced all season. Buescher can’t afford to drop out of the top 30 at Richmond or he won’t make the Chase.
Larson finished third, with Hamlin fourth and Joey Logano fifth.
With 12 laps to go and on the final restart of the race, Truex Jr. and last week’s victor Kyle Larson restarted on the front row with Harvick right behind them.
“This is unbelievable”, said Truex to NASCAR. “I’ve led a lot of laps in my career, but something’s always happened”. “I was fighting to get them back”.
Darlington had always been one of Truex’s better tracks, but you wouldn’t necessarily have said that Sunday night. Regan Smith stunned the Sprint Cup garage in 2011 with his win here.
So there won’t be much shedding of tears for Harvick and his pit-crew issues.
“We have championship cars and we’re just mediocre on pit road”, Harvick said. “It’s been that way for a few years”, he said.
WHO’S NOT: Jimmie Johnson had his troubles at Darlington where he’s won three times.
“You’ve got to take the highs when they’re here and then get back to work”, he said. Scott slid and inadvertently blocked Stewart, who turned the No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford into the wall.
In the 11 races in between winning the Coke 600 and capturing the coveted Southern 500 Sunday night, Truex led laps in seven but won none of them. Truex got up to second on the restart and ran there for several laps before finally getting by Newman with 25 laps remaining.
He was in vintage form Sunday night at Darlington Raceway, where he seemed to intentionally wreck Brian Scott in a move that earned him a post-race sit-down with NASCAR’s bigwigs. “I feel like this year with the speed we’ve had in our Toyotas that we can go to Homestead and really have a shot at this thing”. “I’d say that’s pretty good”. Airing on NBC, fans can also tune in online to watch an NBC NASCAR live video stream of the race. He and crew chief Mike Bugarewicz were called to the NASCAR hauler after the event, but Stewart wasn’t entirely sure why.
Stewart’s race ended early when an overheating engine expired 49 laps from the end.
Matt Kenseth smiles before NASCAR Sprint Cup auto racing practice at Darlington Raceway, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Darlington, S.C. The veteran driver would lead 28 of the final 29 laps and cruise to the win over Harvick.
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The 10-race Chase for the Championship starts September 18 at Chicagoland Speedway.
