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There was no competition for Martin Truex, Jr, during Sunday evening’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, there were only 39 other cars sharing track time. Truex led 392 of the race’s 400 laps which totals to a NASCAR record 588 total miles led.

Truex, Jr, who led the most laps in this race one year ago only to miss out on the victory on a fuel-mileage race, was still attempting to take in the surreal experience in victory lane following the race.

“It meant a lot to me. Just kind of sinking in now, you know? We won the 600, so just really proud of my team,” Truex, Jr, told reporters following the win. “Everybody that made this possible and believed in me and gave me this opportunity. Man, my guys are just … they’re something special, so just got to thank all them. This is a big day, you know? Got the troops on the car – it’s a special weekend. It’s really neat to bring – to bring that name home and to victory lane, so just a lot of emotion right not and not real sure it’s sunk in yet but just an amazing day, an amazing weekend for all of us and just a weekend you dream about.”

The win for Truex is the fourth victory in his Sprint Cup career and first at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His victory was a popular one amongst his counterparts.

“Happy for my friend @MartinTruex_Jr. Domination. It was only a matter of time for that group,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr, said on Twitter following the race. 

Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson both looked to take control of the race on the final restart on lap XXX with Johnson actually passing Truex, only to have the lead taken back in a furious way by the race winner. Harvick, who eventually passed Johnson to finish in second place, felt like his car just started too slow to have any shot at the win in NASCAR’s longest race.

“We struggled the first 450 miles, but they kept swinging at it and were finally able to find some tire pressures that were better,” Harvick explained. “At the beginning of the race, we were just having the same problem getting in the corner and then sliding the back of the car up off the corner, and towards the end we got the car on the racetrack a lot better and were able to really start driving it like we needed to keep up.  I think we’d have been better off if they would have just kept running, but when the caution came out, because we had caught (Truex), passed (Johnson) and then once he got new tires and an adjustment on there, it seemed like he was kind of able to get out in front of us, and we were never really able to make up any ground once we got around (Johnson).

“We ran 10th all day.  I’m just really, really happy with when you’re able to take a 10th-place car at best, for the first 450 miles and make adjustments on it, those are huge gains.  I was just happy we were competitive at the end of the race. We didn’t have the fastest car, obviously.”

Johnson, who finished in third place, believes the fact his car finished behind two other cars speaks to the strength of his competition more than his team’s weaknesses.

“This is the best car I’ve had in Charlotte for a long time,” Johnson said. “It just shows you how good (Truex) was, and (Harvick) got a little bit better than us at the end. I thought we had a chance at them a few times, a couple of times on the long run we would get close. A couple times on the restarts we would get close, but all-in-all a very strong performance.”

Denny Hamlin, who edged Truex out in this season’s Daytona 500, finished in fourth place with Brad Keselowski finishing in fifth place. The 2012 Sprint Cup champion, Keselowski, didn’t feel like he had a race-winning car on Sunday.

“On the long green-flag runs, it seemed like we would be able to move up a little bit.  On short runs we would fall back, but we definitely didn’t have anything for those guys,” Keselowski said. “(Truex) and (Harvick) were just really fast, and Martin Truex deserves this finish.  He had a good run. It’s a long 600 miles and to come home fifth is decent.  It’s not what we want, but we needed a little bit more to be able to run with those guys. The day to night transition is always a challenge, but some places more than others.  I think this track in particular it’s more about the temperature and how hot it is during the day and the long mileage.”

Kurt Busch took home a sixth place finish followed by Matt Kenseth, rookie Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman rounding out the top ten. Dale Earnhardt, Jr, finished in 14th place.

For the race-winner Truex, Jr, inspiration was never far away and he knew it was only a matter of time until he broke through to end his run of bad luck.

“I had confidence, I had faith, I had confidence in my team and I’ve got a lot of great people behind me,” Truex, Jr, explained. “Sherry (Pollex, girlfriend) gives me a lot of inspiration and we just keep fighting. We never give up. We never quit. It feels awesome. Coca-Cola 600, man, this is one everybody wants to win. I feel like we had this thing won last year when we gave it up and just I don’t know. 

“There are so many emotions, I had to unplug my radio and just ride around and think for a few minutes, because I didn’t even know what I was going to say or what I was going to do.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 13
Unofficial Race Results for the 57Th Annual Coca-Cola 600 - Sunday, May 29, 2016
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 400 Laps - 600 Miles

Leader
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    1    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota    400    45    5    150.0    Running    5    392
2    8    4    Kevin Harvick    Jimmy John's Chevrolet    400    39        112.5    Running        
3    7    48    Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet    400    39    1    122.4    Running    3    5
4    4    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Freight Toyota    400    37        111.8    Running        
5    5    2    Brad Keselowski    Miller Lite Ford    400    36        113.6    Running        
6    13    41    Kurt Busch    Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet    400    35        101.6    Running        
7    27    20    Matt Kenseth    DeWalt Toyota    400    34        94.3    Running        
8    12    24    Chase Elliott #    NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet    400    33        88.9    Running        
9    2    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    400    33    1    107.2    Running    1    1
10    14    31    Ryan Newman    Whelen Chevrolet    400    31        81.5    Running        
11    6    16    Greg Biffle    Cheez-It Ford    400    30        87.8    Running        
12    28    3    Austin Dillon    Cheerios Chevrolet    400    29        78.5    Running        
13    24    42    Kyle Larson    Target Chevrolet    400    28        91.6    Running        
14    25    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr.    Nationwide Chevrolet    400    27        85.3    Running        
15    3    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Fastenal Ford    400    26        79.0    Running        
16    15    47    AJ Allmendinger    Harris Teeter/Bush's Beans Chevrolet    399    25        70.5    Running        
17    11    27    Paul Menard    Knauf/Menards Chevrolet    399    25    1    71.1    Running    1    2
18    9    19    Carl Edwards    Subway Toyota    399    23        93.5    Running        
19    23    1    Jamie McMurray    Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet    399    22        66.2    Running        
20    18    21    * Ryan Blaney #    Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Ford    397    21        67.1    Running        
21    19    10    Danica Patrick    Nature's Bakery Chevrolet    396    20        54.8    Running        
22    29    5    Kasey Kahne    LiftMaster Chevrolet    395    19        46.0    Running        
23    26    15    Clint Bowyer    5-hour Energy Chevrolet    395    18        55.7    Running        
24    21    14    Tony Stewart    Mobil 1 Chevrolet    395    17        56.1    Running        
25    10    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    395    16        59.5    Running        
26    20    43    Aric Almirola    U.S. Air Force Ford    395    15        56.3    Running        
27    33    38    Landon Cassill    MDS Transport/We Hire Vets Ford    395    14        44.3    Running        
28    31    7    Regan Smith    Nikko RC/Toy State Chevrolet    395    13        47.8    Running        
29    30    44    Brian Scott #    Twisted Tea Ford    394    12        55.0    Running        
30    17    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    394    11        46.9    Running        
31    35    23    David Ragan    Bubba Burger Toyota    393    10        40.8    Running        
32    34    83    Matt DiBenedetto    Hope For The Warriors/Cosmo Motors Toyota    393    9        37.3    Running        
33    16    18    Kyle Busch    M&M's Toyota    392    8        72.2    Accident        
34    32    95    Michael McDowell    Thrivent Financial Chevrolet    391    7        36.2    Running        
35    36    98    * Cole Whitt    Carolina Skiff Chevrolet    391    6        32.3    Running        
36    38    46    Michael Annett    Pilot Flying J Chevrolet    390    5        32.0    Running        
37    22    34    Chris Buescher #    CSX - Play It Safe Ford    388    4        39.9    Running        
38    37    30    * Josh Wise    Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet    387    3        28.3    Running        
39    39    32    Jeffrey Earnhardt #    Can-Am Ford    382    2        25.3    Running        
40    40    55    * Reed Sorenson    World Record Striper Company Chevrolet    200    1        23.4    Clutch        
 Race Comments:    Martin Truex Jr. won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his fourth career NASCAR Sprint Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 83 and No. 43 (unapproved adjustments).
 Failed to Qualify:    N/A
 Time of Race:    3 Hrs, 44 Mins, 05 Secs.    Average Speed:    160.655 MPH    Margin of Victory:    2.572 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    4 for 19 laps: Laps: 27-30 (Competition caution [30]); 115-120 (#44 Accident in Turn 2 [21]); 205-209 (#32 Accident in Turn 4 [47]); 341-344 (Debris on the backstretch [17]).
 Lead Changes:    9 among 4 drivers: M. Truex Jr. 1-77; J. Johnson 78-79; M. Truex Jr. 80-164; J. Johnson 165; J. Logano 166; M. Truex Jr. 167-298; P. Menard 299-300; M. Truex Jr. 301-343; J. Johnson 344-345; M. Truex Jr. 346-400.
Chase Grid Outlook:     1.Kyle Busch 405 (3 wins);2.J. Johnson 409 (2);3.C. Edwards 404 (2);4.B. Keselowski 404 (2);5.K. Harvick 457 (1);6.M. Truex Jr. 381 (1);7.M. Kenseth 347 (1);8.D. Hamlin 345 (1);9.Kurt Busch 421 (0);10.C. Elliott # 374 (0);11.J. Logano 373 (0);12.A. Dillon 344 (0);13.D. Earnhardt Jr. 341 (0);14.J. Mcmurray 318 (0);15.*. Blaney # 309 (0);16.R. Newman 309 (0).
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award    : Kyle Busch, #18     Coors Light Pole Award    : Martin Truex Jr, #78 192.328 mph
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race"    : Martin Truex Jr, #78     Ingersoll Rand Power Move    : AJ Allmendinger, #47 3 positions
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Hendrick Engines, #48     Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Kevin Harvick, #4 
Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race    : Matt Kenseth, #20 crew chief Jason Ratcliff, -0.096 seconds    Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap    : Denny Hamlin, #11 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Chase Elliott, #24 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    Jun. 5, 2016 - Pocono Raceway