Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C. – In the final stage of Sunday’s Goodyear 400, Kyle Larson turned a Martin Truex Jr. cakewalk into a study in suspense, but Larson couldn’t keep Truex out of Victory Lane in the 12th NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Truex swept the first two stages and led 248 laps to win his third event of the season and remain the only multiple winner in the series this year.

But after the final sequence of pit stops, Larson — who gained time by pitting one lap earlier than Truex — closed the leader’s advantage to .170 seconds on Lap 266 of 293 as the drivers worked stubborn lapped traffic.

Larson stayed within a second of Truex until the final few laps, when Truex finally pulled away to win by 2.571 seconds. No previous stage winner had ever gone on to claim victory at Darlington.

“We just had a good balance,” said Truex, who committed to run the top of the track throughout the race. “The car would do what I wanted it to do. I just had to manage those long runs. It was really loose that last run. I was nervous when the 5 (Larson) was catching us. We got mired in some traffic there, and that’s always tough …

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

“What an awesome team we have. Hopefully, we can keep this rolling.”

The victory was the second at Darlington for the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the 30th of his career. Truex was elated to win another race with the high-horsepower, low-downforce competition package used at Darlington this year.

“I think the most important part is we are winning with the low downforce package, which most of the Playoff races we run are,” Truex said. “Phoenix was a really, really big confidence booster for us – to go there and win.

“I feel like we’ve carried it since there. We just have to keep this thing going. Guys are doing a really good job all around. It’s so fun to drive race cars like that.”

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Freightliner Ford, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Mobil 1 Throwback Ford, lead the field to star the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Kyle Busch finished third, 6.209 seconds back. Fourth-place William Byron was 17.067 seconds in arrears and fifth-place Denny Hamlin was 21.939 seconds behind his JGR teammate, as only nine cars remained on the lead lap at the finish.

Larson lopped two seconds off Truex’s advantage during the final exchange of pit stops but couldn’t pull off a winning pass.

“I was surprised that I was able to get to him,” said Larson, who posted his sixth top-10 result in seven Darlington starts and improved his average finish at the track to a series-best 6.0.

“I caught him, I closed on pit road, was riding and actually had an opportunity to get by and thought I’d stay patient, and he was better on the long run.”

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet, Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, and Chris Buescher, driver of the #17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

As close as Larson made it near the end, the first two stages were an absolute runaway.

Truex’s Camry was decked out in an Auto-Owners Insurance paint scheme. The only other time Truex had used that livery at Darlington was in 2016 — and that was the only time he had ever won a Cup race at the track.

But the nod to 2016 wasn’t the only throwback involved. In harkening to 2016, Truex was recalling a season in which he achieved the sort of dominance he enjoyed on Sunday afternoon.

At Charlotte Motor Speedway, the 40-year-old from Mayetta, New Jersey, put a permanent stamp on the Cup Series with an utterly dominant run in the Coca-Cola 600. Truex led 392 of 400 laps, translating to a NASCAR-record 588 of 600 miles.

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – MAY 09: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

By the time he took the green/checkered flag on Saturday to complete a sweep of the first two stages, Truex had a 14.516-second lead over Kyle Busch.

And for much of Sunday afternoon, the race threatened to present a similar outcome — until Larson intervened.

Kevin Harvick came home sixth, followed by reigning series champion Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher, the last driver on the lead lap.

Byron’s fourth-place finish was his 10th straight top-10 result this season.

Interviews:

NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race: Second-place finisher Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), race-winning team owner Joe Gibbs, race winner Martin Truex Jr. (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) and race-winning crew chief James Small

NASCAR Cup Series Race – 2nd Annual Goodyear 400

Darlington Raceway

Darlington, South Carolina

Sunday, May 9, 2021

               1. (4)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 293.

               2. (14)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 293.

               3. (3)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 293.

               4. (5)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 293.

               5. (7)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 293.

               6. (2)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 293.

               7. (6)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 293.

               8. (16)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 293.

               9. (11)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 293.

               10. (20)  Ryan Newman, Ford, 292.

               11. (22)  Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 292.

               12. (10)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 292.

               13. (12)  Joey Logano, Ford, 292.

               14. (21)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 292.

               15. (18)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 291.

               16. (9)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 291.

               17. (19)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 291.

               18. (26)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 291.

               19. (8)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 290.

               20. (28)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 290.

               21. (23)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 290.

               22. (30)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 290.

               23. (15)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 290.

               24. (1)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 290.

               25. (29)  Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 290.

               26. (25)  Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, 289.

               27. (13)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 288.

               28. (31)  Justin Haley(I), Chevrolet, 288.

               29. (34)  JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 286.

               30. (35)  Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 286.

               31. (36)  James Davison, Chevrolet, 286.

               32. (32)  BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 285.

               33. (37)  Josh Bilicki, Ford, 245.

               34. (33)  Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, Driveshaft, 188.

               35. (17)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 106.

               36. (24)  Cole Custer, Ford, Accident, 97.

               37. (27)  Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 5.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  123.562 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 21 Secs. Margin of Victory:  2.571 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  6 for 36 laps.

Lead Changes:  19 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   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.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Martin Truex Jr. 7 times for 248 laps; Kevin Harvick 2 times for 10 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 10 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 9 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 5 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 4 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 3 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 2 laps; Cody Ware(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Chris Buescher 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,11,8,5,4,22,12,9,24,48

Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,18,24,11,5,20,22,8,12,17