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CONCORD, N.-C. – Martin Truex Jr. survived an early appearance of the outer wall and a frenzied restart with five laps to go to win the Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
On a race that featured 16 warnings – most since the record 22 in 2005 – Truex made a four-wide inside pass after Turn 2 of 396 on 400 turn on the 1.5-mile track and beat second, Joey Logano, at the finish line of .30 seconds.
The win was the third of the season for Truex, comparing teammate Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch to Brad Keselowski of Team Penske for most of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup games to date. It was his third in Charlotte and his 22nd career, but it was not the kind of dominant performance that allowed Truex to achieve a record of 392 laps in 2016.
RELATED: Results of the race
SHOP: Truex equipment
On the contrary. After taking a lead of almost three seconds in the first leg of the race, Truex blew a right front tire and slammed the wall of Turn 4 hard enough to cause the third caution of the evening. After the repairs, Truex resumed the 32nd lap on the 79th lap, but at the end of the first leg of lap 100, he rallied to finish ninth and remained in the group the rest of the night.
And when David Ragan stayed on old tires and Ryan Newman stopped two tires before the final restart on the 396th lap, Truex allowed both drivers and Logano to return in the wake of the race that won the race. driver paid tribute to a deceased soldier at the Memorial Day commemoration.
"It was just amazing – what a race!" Said Truex after organizing a smoke show on the front. "It's for all those who gave their lives so we can be here tonight.
"What an incredible team! We have never given up. I thought we were done. We blew up a tire and hit the wall. We have never given up. Just kept fighting, just kept fighting. What a race there at the end. It was pretty wild. "
"Wild" does not correctly describe the decisive restart. Busch split the Fords of Ragan and Newman in Turn 2, choosing to go wide three instead of leaving Ragan free in the top lane. Truex then propelled his No. 19 Toyota inside Turn 2 and took the lead as the cars passed Turns 3 and 4.
But when Truex crossed corner 4 and approached the tri-oval, Logano was right on his bumper, pushing hard. It was not until the cars reached Turn 1 on Tour 397 that Truex departed.
"I thought I was going wherever there was a hole, because I was not lifting," Truex said of his winning shot. "That's how it works out there. It looked like the second half of the race, for sure, the bottom was really the one you wanted to be. I had a hole in the bottom to get into (Turn) 3, and I knew it was my only shot. Barely cleared the 22 (Logano) off (Turn) 4 on the side. He was on my bumper and he took me to the side. I clung to him and, thankfully, I finished it from there.
Logano overcame handling problems early to finish second but played no role until the end of the race.
"The 38 (Ragan) ran very well, and I thought he was going to run in the middle, and I misjudged him," said Logano at the last bout. "That's what cut a little momentum, while Martin was able to get enough momentum to get out of this turning point.
"At that time, I pushed him forward to try to pass it out, but he defended it well … the good thing is that we kept fighting and getting something from the day. "
Kyle Busch was third, followed by Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chris Buescher, who resisted hard contact with the Turn 4 wall at lap 127 and took the 12th to 6th place after the final restart.
Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, pole winner William Byron and Kevin Harvick complete the top 10 in a turbulent race with 30 lead changes from 11 drivers.
Although Truex won NASCAR's only 600km race for the second time, the importance of the event has not diminished.
"It's just a special race," Truex said. "The longest race of the year. So much history. What this weekend means for all the soldiers and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can even be here. The Null family in my car – the first master (Nicholas) Null.
"I met his family this weekend and they were very grateful to NASCAR, its teams and everyone else for that. I can not wait to see them here. They said we were going to win, and now we have to have a cool beer and celebrate. Just enjoy everyone this weekend. It's really special. Congratulations to NASCAR and all the teams for organizing everything. "
Sunday's race also marked the mid-point of the 26-race regular season before the 16-round playoff field was defined.
The Monster Energy Series will be back on the track next weekend at Pocono Raceway, the 2.5-mile Trike Tricky in Pennsylvania. The Pocono 400 is scheduled for 14:00. HE (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on Sunday, June 2nd.
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