Truex led the final 28 laps and held off the Kevin Harvick’s powerhouse vehicle to win the Southern 500, closing the summer season with a second of Sprint Cup’s “crown jewel” races on Labor Day weekend.
Advertisement
Kyle Larson is a week removed from his first Cup victory, a win that earned him a berth in NASCAR’s playoffs, and rookie Chase Elliott is a week away from securing his spot in the 10-race championship series. This is Southern 500 weekend at Darlington Raceway.
“Pit crew, man, what a job they did tonight”, Truex told NBC.
“This is unbelievable”, said Truex to NASCAR.
Stewart’s race ended early when an overheating engine expired 49 laps from the end. “This is just the beginning for us, I think”. “We had a shot at it last year, but didn’t have the performance at the end of the year in our cars”. They took a lot of heat from last week with what happened. At one point, Harvick fell 11 spots from first to 12th after a super slow 16.6-second stop. (7) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 367. 5. “The history, the tradition here, to see the Hall of Famers before the race, and talked to Cale Yarborough and all those guys, it’s just unbelievable”. Harvick asked his team over the radio afterward. After the Southern 500, where Harvick finished behind victor and Toyota driver Martin Truex, Jr., he threw his pit crew so far under the bus you’d think the bus would have high-centered.
Two poor pit stops cost Harvick track position with the second one – from a possible air wrench malfunction – sending him back to 12th with 84 laps to go Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. “Just the dominant vehicle and just three bad pit stops on pit road”.
Kevin Harvick is once again frustrated about his pit crew.
While finishing strong every week has been an issue at times, Truex’s ability to regularly run up front, lead laps and challenge for wins makes him someone to watch when NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup begins in two weeks.
After winning his second race of the season, Martin Truex Jr. has confidence heading into the Chase. Fast facts: Moffitt finished third, second and first at Pocono, Bristol and MI, respectively. Daniel Suarez was third and Kyle Larson, last week’s Sprint Cup victor at MI, was fourth. Cool paint schemes, a Brady singing, and some old school racing (Tony Stewart). Trevor Bayne spun in Turn 4 for the race’s first caution on Lap 96.
“I feel bad. We’ve changed people there”. I am not sure if he thought I was trying to hold him up there, I wasn’t.
And Greg Zipadelli, Stewart-Haas Racing’s director of competition, said he was “pulling his hair out” trying to find a solution to the team’s problems.
Kevin Harvick owned the field at Darlington, but pit-road follies thwarted his route to Victory Lane. I have a lot of respect for Tony. “They brought the fastest race auto to the track once again, and we just didn’t do a good job on pit road and gave it away”, Harvick said.
Advertisement
Truex came close – by just about a foot behind Denny Hamlin at Daytona – to becoming just the third driver in NASCAR history to win Daytona, Charlotte and Darlington in the same season. It is uncertain for now if Stewart and his team will be penalized anything because of the incident.
