Truex Jr. dominates the Coke 600

Martin Truex Jr. has left the field in his wake as he led an incredible 392 of 400 laps at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

Truex Jr.’s performance had historians reaching for the record books with the most laps led and most distance in front. In 1967 Jim Pascal set the previus best mark of 335 laps at the 1.5-mile track. Truex’s 588 miles led were the most in any NASCAR race in the history of the sport

He took the lead from the pole and only on the exchange of pit stops did he give up the front spot. Added to this was excellent pit stops, both under green and caution. The calls from the Furniture Row crew, including Australian engineer Peter Craik, allowed Truex Jr. to control the race. The other Australian connection for the Denver-based operation is engine engineer Jon Grove.

The Toyota driver had dominated a number of races this year, but could not close the deal. His performance at Charlotte showed why he was one of the contenders for the title last year and will once again be in the mix come the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The only serious scares came late when with seven laps to run Kyle Busch hit the fence, but came straight to pit road and the race stayed green. Then with three laps to run Ryan Blaney cut a rear tyre, but again he was able to stay out of the way and keep the race running.

His performance was applauded by not only the fans, but also the oppositions pit crews who lined the road into Victory Lane.

“That meant a lot to me,” said Truex Jr.

“It’s just kind of sinking in that we have won the 600. A lot of emotion. An amazing day and amazing weekend for all of us. A weekend you dream about.

“I had confidence in my team and a lot of people behind me. My pit crew did a great job tonight. I had a lot of fun racing tonight.”

Lost in the performance by Truex Jr. was the other place getters with Kevin Havick coming home second ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

VIDEO: Race Wrap

RESULTS: Coca-Cola 600 – Charlotte Motor Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	START	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	1	400	392	Running	45	5
2	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	8	400	0	Running	39	0
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	7	400	5	Running	39	1
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	4	400	0	Running	37	0
5	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	400	0	Running	36	0
6	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	13	400	0	Running	35	0
7	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	27	400	0	Running	34	0
8	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	12	400	0	Running	33	0
9	22	Joey Logano	Ford	2	400	1	Running	33	1
10	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	14	400	0	Running	31	0
11	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	6	400	0	Running	30	0
12	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	28	400	0	Running	29	0
13	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	24	400	0	Running	28	0
14	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	25	400	0	Running	27	0
15	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	3	400	0	Running	26	0
16	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	15	399	0	Running	25	0
17	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	11	399	2	Running	25	1
18	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	9	399	0	Running	23	0
19	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	23	399	0	Running	22	0
20	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	18	397	0	Running	21	0
21	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	19	396	0	Running	20	0
22	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	29	395	0	Running	19	0
23	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	26	395	0	Running	18	0
24	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	21	395	0	Running	17	0
25	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	10	395	0	Running	16	0
26	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	20	395	0	Running	15	0
27	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	33	395	0	Running	14	0
28	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	31	395	0	Running	13	0
29	44	Brian Scott	Ford	30	394	0	Running	12	0
30	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	17	394	0	Running	11	0
31	23	David Ragan	Toyota	35	393	0	Running	10	0
32	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	34	393	0	Running	9	0
33	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	16	392	0	Accident	8	0
34	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	32	391	0	Running	7	0
35	98	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	36	391	0	Running	6	0
36	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	38	390	0	Running	5	0
37	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	22	388	0	Running	4	0
38	30	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	37	387	0	Running	3	0
39	32	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Ford	39	382	0	Running	2	0
40	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	40	200	0	Clutch	1	0

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kevin Harvick	457	Leader	13	1	6	10	0
2	Kurt Busch	421	-36	13	0	4	11	0
3	Jimmie Johnson	409	-48	13	2	6	7	0
4	Kyle Busch	405	-52	13	3	9	9	3
5	Carl Edwards	404	-53	13	2	5	8	2
6	Brad Keselowski	404	-53	13	2	4	8	0
7	Martin Truex Jr	381	-76	13	1	2	6	0
8	Chase Elliott	374	-83	13	0	4	9	1
9	Joey Logano	373	-84	13	0	3	7	2
10	Matt Kenseth	347	-110	13	1	2	5	2
11	Denny Hamlin	345	-112	13	1	4	6	2
12	Austin Dillon	344	-113	13	0	3	6	0
13	Dale Earnhardt Jr	341	-116	13	0	4	5	3
14	Jamie McMurray	318	-139	13	0	1	2	0
15	Ryan Blaney	309	-148	13	0	1	5	1
16	Ryan Newman	309	-148	13	0	0	4	1
17	AJ Allmendinger	308	-149	13	0	1	3	0
18	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	299	-158	13	0	1	2	1
19	Trevor Bayne	291	-166	13	0	1	3	0
20	Kasey Kahne	290	-167	13	0	2	4	1
21	Kyle Larson	271	-186	13	0	2	3	2
22	Paul Menard	257	-200	13	0	0	1	3
23	Greg Biffle	245	-212	13	0	0	0	3
24	Danica Patrick	236	-221	13	0	0	0	3
25	Clint Bowyer	229	-228	13	0	0	2	1
26	Aric Almirola	228	-229	13	0	0	0	3
27	Landon Cassill	216	-241	13	0	0	0	0
28	Casey Mears	195	-262	13	0	0	0	0
29	Brian Scott	190	-267	13	0	0	0	0
30	David Ragan	171	-286	13	0	0	0	2
31	Regan Smith	161	-296	13	0	0	1	2
32	Michael McDowell	161	-296	12	0	0	0	0
33	Matt DiBenedetto	150	-307	13	0	0	1	3
34	Chris Buescher	145	-312	13	0	0	0	2
35	Tony Stewart	111	-346	5	0	0	1	1
36	Cole Whitt	108	-349	11	0	0	0	3
37	Michael Annett	108	-349	13	0	0	0	2
38	Brian Vickers	86	-371	5	0	0	1	1
39	Josh Wise	47	-410	11	0	0	0	3
40	Jeffrey Earnhardt	44	-413	8	0	0	0	0
41	Michael Waltrip	42	-415	2	0	0	0	0
42	Bobby Labonte	34	-423	2	0	0	0	0
43	David Gilliland	24	-433	1	0	0	0	0
44	Reed Sorenson	23	-434	7	0	0	0	3
45	Robert Richardson	3	-454	1	0	0	0	1
46	Ty Dillon	0	-457	5	0	0	0	0
47	Joey Gase	0	-457	3	0	0	0	0
48	Ryan Ellis	0	-457	1	0	0	0	0