Photo Credit: Brad Keppel
Martin Truex Jr. came into this weekend’s Coca Cola 600 as a man on a mission.
After what had seemed a season full of near misses and heartbreaks, many wondered if Truex could put it all together and get to victory lane. Truex emphatically put an end to the questions on Sunday night with arguably the most dominant performance in NASCAR history to win the Coca Cola 600.
Truex led a record high 392 out of 400 laps at the 1.5 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway leaving the field in his wake while he and his team put together a flawless performance.
Truex also broke the record for most miles ever led in a Sprint Cup Series race leading 588 out of 600 miles. The only time Truex was challenged was by Jimmie Johnson on a restart with 55 laps to go. Johnson took the lead momentarily but Truex retook the lead a lap later and was never challenged again.
Truex was then able to scoot away from Kevin Harvick as the laps wound down for a margin of victory of 2.572 seconds. For Truex, redemption couldn’t be much sweeter as he celebrated his fourth career Cup Series victory.
“I had confidence. I had faith,” Truex said. “I had confidence in my team. I’ve got a lot of great people behind me. Sherry’s (Pollex, girlfriend) – she gives me a lot of inspiration and we just keep fighting. We never give up. We never quit. We always just keep digging and just proud of my guys for sticking behind me – the pit crew has come a long way. They did a great job tonight and hoping I’m not leaving anybody out – Sprint, the fans – thank you all – so many fans that support us the last couple of years with so many heartbreaks, so I really appreciate that and just had a lot of fun racing tonight.”
Jimmie Johnson finished third followed by: Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Ryan Newman rounded out the top ten.
Other notable finishers in the 57th running of the Coca Cola 600 include: Austin Dillon 12th, Kyle Larson 13th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 14th, Carl Edwards 18th, Ryan Blaney 20th, Kasey Kahne 22nd, Tony Stewart 24th, and Kyle Busch 33rd.
This year’s Coca Cola 600 also set a record as the fastest in history with a time of a little over three hours and 44 minutes.
