Harvick, victor of the 2014 Darlington race and eventual victor of that season’s Sprint Cup points title, also made a change before that year’s Chase for the Championship by switching some pit-crew members with teammate/team co-owner Tony Stewart. If he can drive like he has the last three to five races, he may end up driving himself to a Sprint Cup victory.
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Truex finished strong Sunday at Darlington Speedway, holding off Kevin Harvick to win the Southern 500, one of the sport’s signature races.
Truex started the summer season by leading an astounding 588 of 600 miles to win at Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend. During one 16.6-second stop, Harvick fell from first to 12th and, while he got to back to second, correctly said on the radio after that stop, “It’s pretty much over at this point”.
Truex did what he was supposed to do, which was race the track and then the drivers. Harvick’s pit crew battled slow stops all night, losing over 15 positions throughout the night. Barring a Kyle Busch win at Richmond, Keselowski will cruise into the top spot for the chase. Joey Logano was fifth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.
With 12 to go, Truex would lead the field to green with Harvick in hot pursuit, however the No. 78 would pull away in the last couple of laps to capture one of the crown jewels on the NASCAR circuit.
“Just to be mentioned with those two names is unbelievable enough”, said Truex. “I’ve led a lot of laps in my career, but something’s always happened”.
“I’ve got my helmet ready to throw, ” joked defending Darlington victor Carl Edwards, who’ll sport a tribute to retiring – and fiery – Tony Stewart and his Home Depot auto from the three-time series champ’s rookie season in 1999.
It was the second Southern 500 victory for Truex’s Denver-based Furniture Row Racing. Harvick is my pick to win the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup.
However, he is locked into the Chase and will make a run as the Sprint Cup Championship. It was worth the wait.
After the race, Harvick lashed out at his pit crew.
“We have championship cars and we’re just mediocre on pit road”, said an angry Harvick, who finished 0.606 second behind Truex. “It’s been that way for a few years”, he said. Larson won his first career Sprint Cup race last Sunday in MI. He led 214 of the race’s 367 laps.
PENALTY FOR SIX-TIME: Jimmie Johnson was penalized by NASCAR after his crew made illegal modifications during a pit stop. Scott slid and inadvertently blocked Stewart, who turned the No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford into the wall.
Custer twice held off Nemechek on a pair of late restarts, but was bumped with two turns remaining before an aggressive door-to-door drag race through the grass to the checkered flag.
“I honestly took the checkered flag, and I was like, ‘I can not believe I just won the Southern 500, ‘” Truex said. He began the season by finishing second by inches in the biggest one of all, the Daytona 500.
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Brian Scott would bring out his second yellow of the night, the race’s third overall, at 204 when he got a nudge from Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevy) that put him into the inside wall and eventually behind it after a hard hit that would end his night. When that didn’t work at first, Stewart looked like he nudged Scott’s bumper and sent him spinning.
