Truex scores record win in NASCAR's longest race.
Putting a season's worth of frustration behind him, Martin Truex Jr. blitzed the field to score a dominant victory Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Truex started on the pole and led a NASCAR-record 588 miles of a possible 600 miles in winning the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race. The victory was the first of the season for Truex and Furniture Row Racing after several near-misses.
In the season-opening Daytona 500, Truex finished second to Denny Hamlin by the closest margin in race history (0.010 seconds). Then came races at Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway where he led the most laps only for circumstances to work against him late in both events.
"Just a lot of emotion right not and not real sure it's sunk in yet," Truex said. "But just an amazing day, an amazing weekend for all of us and just a weekend you dream about."
Kevin Harvick finished runner-up to Truex by 2.5 seconds. Jimmie Johnson placed third, with Hamlin fourth and Brad Keselowski fifth.
"They have had a few runs where they have just been the class of the field and things have kept them from Victory Lane," Johnson said of Truex and Furniture Row. "(Sunday) he wasn't going to be denied, there was no way around that.
"I kind of felt like he was playing with us. He was so fast."
Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
Because of the blazing pace exhibited by Truex, his average speed of 160.644 mph broke the previous track record for quickest race set by Kasey Kahne (155.687 mph) in the 2012 Coca-Cola 600.
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