For much of Sunday’s race, Truex and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team seemed to have settled on a pit strategy that would put them in position to contend for the win.
It started in Stage 2, when Truex was the first called to pit road for new tires on a green-flag stop and his team elected to break the 160-lap stage in two, hoping the advantage of new tires late in the stage could translate into victory.
It worked, as Truex ran down Christopher Bell on older tires to take the stage victory.
With few cautions in the race, the final 170-lap stage again broke into a one or two-stop strategy test, but this time, Truex’s team opted to remain on one along with race leader William Byron, while Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and others went for two.
The two-stop strategy won out, as Hamlin ran down Byron for the lead with four laps remaining and held off Harvick for the win. Byron ended up third and Truex – who led 80 laps in the race – was relegated to fourth.
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