Five things we learned from Truex's victory

He had the car, he had the crew, and in Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he had girlfriend Sherry Pollex waiting to share the moment.

True enough, Truex’s win was long in coming. And while the racing gods had trifled with the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team on numerous occasions this season, they were powerless to keep him out of Victory Lane after NASCAR's longest race. Truex won the pole. He led final practice. And in the race itself, Truex led 392 of 400 laps on Sunday night. Simply put, he was unstoppable.

“The whole weekend was really one of them fairy‑tale weekends where it seemed like we couldn't do anything wrong, and Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and the guys did a great job with the car, obviously, all weekend.

“It just seemed like everything was going the way we needed it to do, and then we come down to the end of the race and we're out there leading, and I'm like, 'All right, when is the caution going to come out?' -- and it didn’t.”

The last 55 laps were the longest — and not without incident. With seven laps remaining, Kyle Busch hit the wall on the backstretch but was able to limp to the garage on his own. Five laps later, Ryan Blaney cut a tire, yet made is safely on to pit road. No caution.

Despite the turmoil facing other drivers, Truex stayed the course, lapping all but 14 cars.

“Things went the way we needed them to,” Truex said. “We had obviously a fast hot rod and just thankful for that, and thanks for all my guys for working so hard and bringing fast cars. It's fun to drive them.”

Five other things we learned from Martin Truex Jr.’s win

1. Numbers Game — Truex became the eighth driver to win in the 13th race of the season. There are eight Chase for the Sprint Cup spots open and 13 more races for other drivers to qualify for a playoff berth. Of Truex’s 809 laps led this season, a career-best, 739 circuits were led on intermediate tracks. Of those four tracks, three — Texas, Kansas and Charlotte, where Truex led a total of 705 laps — will return in the Chase. Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson, who chased Truex all night during the Coca-Cola 600, have led the second most laps (133) on 1.5-mile tracks. It would appear the rest of the field has some work to do. 

2. Triple Crown winner? Well, almost — Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser finally witnessed his team win a race on Sunday. Visser, who has campaigned in the Cup series for seven full seasons, missed the No. 78 team’s first two victories -- at Darlington with Regan Smith in 2011 and last year with Truex at Pocono. Visser was in attendance for the 2016 Daytona 500 when Denny Hamlin nipped Truex at the finish line by a mere 0.010-seconds. Still, having a Southern 500 and Coca-Cola 600 trophy is not too shabby.

3. June Boon — Before Truex’s win on May 29, his three previous Cup victories were earned in June — Dover, Sonoma and last year at Pocono — where the tour will travel to this weekend. As was the case this year, Truex racked up a slew of laps led in 2015, at Kansas (95), Charlotte (131) and Dover (131) leading up to his Pocono win. Maybe June is just a lucky month for Truex, who will turn 36 on the 29th.

4. Giving credit where credit is due — It’s hard to believe FRR is 13 races into its relationship with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. Certainly last season, when Furniture Row had a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, the team was arguably the best organization in that partnership. Truex was the only Chevy in the RCR armada to win a race and transfer into the Chase. It’s not surprising that Visser said on Sunday, “After Toyota stepped up for us, I really felt like we were on the roll we needed to be. We would not be where we are at all right now without Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. That's huge for us.” And Visser is right when he claimed, “We think we add something to all of that, and we obviously share all of our information with them. It's just been kind of a steady progress.” Toyota earning eight wins in the first 13 races is a record for the manufacturer.

5. The last laugh — Truex surprised himself by leading 588 of 600 miles. However, following the fourth and final caution — with 57 laps remaining — Jimmie Johnson passed Truex for lead. While Johnson’s advantage did not last long, Truex was a good sport about it. “I had to give him something for being a good sport,” Truex said with a laugh. “I just wanted to give him a taste of what it might feel like to lead this thing. No, I'm just kidding.”