Martin Truex Jr. captured his third NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) win of the season on Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Truex Jr. dominated the race by leading 248 of the 293 laps and swept both stages. This was his 30th NCS career win in 561 series starts. He is the only multi-race winner this year.
It was also the first time that a stage winner has ever claimed the checkered flag at Darlington.
“I’m extremely proud of everyone on this Auto-Owners Camry. I think this flat black is a throwback to you, Regan (Smith), when you won here. It’s really cool to throw back to Furniture Row. Hopefully, Barney Visser (owner, Furniture Row Racing) is out here watching. I know, Regan, you and I both owe him a lot, but this one is for Furniture Row. It’s pretty cool.” Truex said.
Kyle Larson closed on Truex Jr. in the closing laps but had to settle for second place, earning his seventh top-10 finish this season.
“I was surprised that I was able to get to him. I caught him really; like, I closed on pit road and then I caught him pretty quickly once we were on track. I closed right in, and actually had an opportunity to get by him in the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2, but I thought I’d stay patient and maybe get him to use his stuff up. He was just a little bit better than I was in the long runs.” Larson said.
Kansas winner Kyle Busch finished third and was pleased with the overall progress his team has made.
“Yes, solid day overall. Definitely better than some of our other 750 package races, but just missing a little bit on the long run. It seemed like we could fire off with (Martin) Truex there and hang with him a little bit. Actually, we would catch him for about five laps and then it was over. Just trying to hold on after that point. Overall, real good day.”
William Byron was fourth and Denny Hamlin finished fifth. Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie with an 11th place result.
Hamlin leads the series with 529 points. Truex (-75), Byron (-101), Joey Logano (-123) and Ryan Blaney (-124) round out the top five in the driver standings.
There were no major issues in the post-race inspection. The No. 18 (Busch), 24 (Byron), 4 (Harvick), 12 (Blaney) and 8 (Reddick) will be taken to the R&D Center for further inspection. The No. 22 (Logano) had two lug nuts not safe and secure and the No. 17 (Buescher) had one lug nut not safe and secure.
NEXT RACE: Sunday, May 16th at Dover International Speedway on FS1 at 2 p.m. ET
NASCAR Cup Series Race No. 12 Race Results for the 2nd Annual Goodyear 400
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC – 1.366 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 293 Laps – 400.238 Miles
| Fin | Str | No | Driver | Team | Laps | S1Pos | S2Pos | S3Pos | Pts | Status |
| 1 | 4 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 293 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 60 | Running |
| 2 | 14 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet | 293 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 48 | Running |
| 3 | 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M’s Toyota | 293 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43 | Running |
| 4 | 5 | 24 | William Byron | Valvoline Throwback Chevrolet | 293 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 43 | Running |
| 5 | 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Toyota | 293 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 48 | Running |
| 6 | 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Mobil 1 Throwback Ford | 293 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 37 | Running |
| 7 | 6 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hooters Throwback Chevrolet | 293 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 33 | Running |
| 8 | 16 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Advance Auto Parts Ford | 293 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 35 | Running |
| 9 | 11 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fifth Third Bank Ford | 293 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 29 | Running |
| 10 | 20 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Kohler Generators Ford | 292 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | Running |
| 11 | 22 | 14 | Chase Briscoe # | HighPoint.com Throwback Ford | 292 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | Running |
| 12 | 10 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Quartz Hill Records Chevrolet | 292 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 36 | Running |
| 13 | 12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 292 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 33 | Running |
| 14 | 21 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 292 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 28 | Running |
| 15 | 18 | 42 | Ross Chastain | McDonald’s Chevrolet | 291 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | Running |
| 16 | 9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 291 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | Running |
| 17 | 19 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Throwback Chevrolet | 291 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 21 | Running |
| 18 | 26 | 43 | Erik Jones | STP Chevrolet | 291 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | Running |
| 19 | 8 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Menards/Dutch Boy Ford | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | Running |
| 20 | 28 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Tide Chevrolet | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | Running |
| 21 | 23 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Root Insurance Toyota | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | Running |
| 22 | 30 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | In Memory of Alan Kulwicki Chevrolet | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | Running |
| 23 | 15 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Camping World Throwback Chevrolet | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Running |
| 24 | 1 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Freightliner Ford | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | Running |
| 25 | 29 | 37 | * Ryan Preece | Velveeta Chevrolet | 290 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Running |
| 26 | 25 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo # | We Care Ford | 289 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | Running |
| 27 | 13 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Fr8 Auctions Ford | 288 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | Running |
| 28 | 31 | 77 | Justin Haley(I) | FOE Mother’s Day Chevrolet | 288 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
| 29 | 34 | 53 | JJ Yeley(i) | FatBoy Ice Cream Chevrolet | 286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
| 30 | 35 | 0 | Quin Houff | Bos Klein/RCA Chevrolet | 286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Running |
| 31 | 36 | 15 | James Davison | HOPEGIVERS Throwback Chevrolet | 286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Running |
| 32 | 32 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | CorvetteParts.net/Keen Parts Ford | 285 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
| 33 | 37 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Insurance King Throwback Ford | 245 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | Running |
| 34 | 33 | 51 | Cody Ware(i) | NURTEC ODT Throwback Chevrolet | 188 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Driveshaft |
| 35 | 17 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Monster Energy Chevrolet | 106 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Accident |
| 36 | 24 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Mother’s Day Ford | 97 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Accident |
| 37 | 27 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield/Winn-Dixie Ford | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Accident |
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 21 Secs. Average Speed: 123.562 MPH Margin of Victory: 2.571 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 11, 8, 5, 4, 22, 12, 9, 24, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 19, 18, 24, 11, 5, 20, 22, 8, 12, 17
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 6 for 36 laps; Laps: 7-11 (#10 Incident Backstretch [None]); 23-28 (#18 Incident Turn 4/Competition Cuation [None]); 92-97 (Stage 1 Conclusion [1]); 100-104 (#41, 38 Incident Backstretch [14]); 108-114 (#1, 23 Incident Frontstretch [None]); 187-193 (Stage 2 Conclusion [43]).
Lead Changes: 19 among 10 drivers; B. Keselowski 1-4; K. Harvick 5-13; K. Busch 14-21; M. Truex Jr. 22-24; T. Reddick 25; C. Ware(i) 26; M. Truex Jr. 27-60; T. Reddick 61; R. Chastain 62-71; M. Truex Jr. 72-92; D. Hamlin 93; M. Truex Jr. 94-110; D. Hamlin 111-114; M. Truex Jr. 115-144; C. Buescher 145; K. Harvick 146; C. Bell 147-149; M. Truex Jr. 150-187; K. Busch 188; M. Truex Jr. 189-293.
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Chase Briscoe, #14
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
