Martin Truex Jr. led the last 28 revolutions and staved off the Kevin Harvick’s hot-rod to win the Southern 500. Truex Jr. finished off the summer with his second victory in one of the Sprint Cup’s Series “Crown Jewels.” The new addition to the Joe Gibbs Racing family won his first race of 2016 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day.
The joyous driver drove up to the inside wall to celebrate with his crew after the win. Then the race winner did some donuts on the pavement of the track “Too Tough To Tame.” It was Martin Truex Jr. fifth NASCAR win and first in 11 career Darlington starts.
“This is unbelievable,” said Martin Truex Jr., who earned his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season and the fifth of his career. “I’ve always loved this racetrack. I’ve also led a lot of laps here in my career, but something always happens, and I’m so proud to get to victory lane with this group. The pit crew was flawless tonight — they won us the race.”
“They took a lot of heat for what happened last week, a blown pit stop at Michigan resulting in a 20th-place finish. We’ve had a terrible streak of bad luck. We’ve also had super-fast race cars. I knew the bad luck would stop coming, and we’d start racking ’em off. The pit crew’s also done a great job, but they did stumble last week, and this was a great way to make it up.”
Kevin Harvick led 214 of the 367 laps turned. Unfortunately, it was all for not when his pit crew underachieved in a late race pit stop. The angered veteran had some choice words for his crew after their late contest debacle.
During the 16.6 second stop, Kevin Harvick dropped from first to 12th. Although he worked his way back to second, it was too late to catch Martin Truex Jr. Harvick’s disappointment was evident in his voice after the slow stop by team. The 2014 Sprint Cup champion said it was time for the crew to perform.
“It’s pretty much over at this point. I’m over being a cheerleader. Those guys get paid a lot of money to perform on pit road and cheer-leading really hasn’t been working,” Harvick said. “You’ve got to get after it on pit road and do your job.”
Kyle Larson, who captured his first NASCAR win at Michigan International Speedway took third. Denny Hamlin drove his way to a fourth place finish. Joey Logano rounded out the top five in the fifth position. Brad Keselowski, who also led his share of laps in the event ended his day in the ninth position.
Jimmie Johnson suffered through his share of problems at Darlington. The six-time Sprint Cup champion was forced to honor a pass-through penalty after his crew made a modification on pit road. As a result, Johnson fell two laps down to Kevin Harvick.
The driver of the #48 also spun on lap 214 on the “Lady in Black’s” tricky turns. The Hendrick Motorsports’ veteran hit the inside wall and was taken to the garage. It was Johnson’s ninth finish outside the top 10 in his last 12 races. Furthermore, Johnson was hoping for his team to build some momentum after a good performance a week earlier at Michigan.
What would a race at Darlington be without a little controversy. Tony Stewart jumped into that scenario with both feet. Stewart, who was also making his final appearance at Darlington couldn’t hold his temper.
He was trying to get by the lapped car of Brian Scott when he gave the driver a bump for encouragement. When that intimidation tactic didn’t suffice, the controversial champion side swiped his bumper again and sent him spinning. making his final run at Darlington was trying to get out lapped car Brian Scott.
Brian Scott thought “Smoke” was mad at him because he ran him off the track intentionally. “I’m not sure if he thought I was trying to hold him up. I wasn’t,” Scott said. The abrupt maneuver did not go unnoticed.
NASCAR officials called Stewart and also his crew chief Mike Bugarewicz to their hauler at the end of the Southern 500. Yet Stewart responded by saying…”Hey man, made it 25 races, I’d say that’s pretty good.”
Final Results for the Southern 500 Throw-back Weekend at Darlington:
1. (8) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 367.
2. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 367.
3. (16) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 367.
4. (7) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 367.
5. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 367.
6. (10) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 367.
7. (18) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 367.
8. (14) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 367.
9. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 367.
10. (11) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 367.
11. (6) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 367.
12. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 367.
13. (20) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 367.
14. (15) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 367.
15. (13) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 367.
16. (24) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 367.
17. (31) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 367.
18. (22) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 367.
19. (3) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 366.
20. (33) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 366.
21. (32) David Ragan, Toyota, 366.
22. (27) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 365.
23. (21) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 365.
24. (25) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 365.
25. (28) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 365.
26. (35) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 364.
27. (30) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 364.
28. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 362.
29. (40) * Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 361.
30. (29) Landon Cassill, Ford, 361.
31. (39) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 358.
32. (26) Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 346.
33. (9) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 328.
34. (4) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 326.
35. (17) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, Overheating, 317.
36. (23) Greg Biffle, Ford, Accident, 295.
37. (36) * Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, Electrical, 250.
38. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, Ford, Accident, 247.
39. (34) Brian Scott #, Ford, Accident, 199.
40. (19) Trevor Bayne, Ford, Engine, 161.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 126.437 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 57 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.606 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 52 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 8 drivers.
