It was Truex’s first career Southern 500 win and the second for his Furniture Row Racing team.
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“We never lost confidence, I don’t think”, said Truex. I feel like we let a few slip away, for sure. Channeling the success of Pearson at Darlington, which includes ten wins, is just what the young rookie needs. I don’t expect him to challenge for the win, but I do expect Newman to extend his streak of top 15 finishes this weekend and provide a safe, solid finish.
Kevin Harvick finished second, and Kyle Larson was third.
“This is just – this is unbelievable”, Truex said. “At this point, I guess momentum means something, so I guess something matters”. I did on the long run. The only crew from the four-car organization not slated to make the playoffs is the one that works with Danica Patrick. We hit a lot of short runs at the end, and that would kill us.
“I’m through with being a cheerleader”, he said of his crew. “I was fighting to get them back”.
Reno’s Jay Sears had led every lap from the green flag, but on the last restart he faltered and Carson City’s David Paine accelerated into him, driving Sears into the infield and out of the race.
“We have championship cars and we’re just mediocre on pit road”, Harvick said.
“Yeah, it’s been quite a weekend, quite a night”, Truex said.
“Here tonight they had really solid stops the first half of the race, did everything they needed to do and then the gun breaks and everybody tries to make up for everything”. When the series returned to the historic road course in upstate New York’s wine country in 2005, Dixon won the first three races, his victory that first year snapping a 40-race winless streak. Harvick pitted with the race lead but came out 12th because of an air-gun malfunction. You nearly always see a short-term boost after these types of “executive” shakeups; Darlington gives hope in the form of an 11th-place finish last season. And, two Fernley drivers staged a match race in the Super Stock 4 division, with Justin Busch coming out on top and Jesse James finishing second.
Newman has been a reliable option at Darlington for years, and over the last ten races, he has seven top 10s and has reeled off three straight top 15s. On lap 214, Johnson spun out and slid into the inside wall. After one slow pit stop, Harvick’s team exchanged air guns with Danica Patrick’s team in an attempt to ensure no further problems would occur. That stop took 17 seconds and cost Harvick seven spots. Listed as a 6-1 odds on favorite this weekend, Harvick is the current point leader as the series heads into the Chase and he won just two weeks ago at Bristol. Brad Keselowski is second followed by Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and Logano. He also led laps from 339-350 for a total of 28 for the race.
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Knoxville native Trevor Bayne went to the garage early after spinning out of control. For regulars this tradition brings them back year after year.
