Just as importantly, he had a fast pit crew.

Truex’s Furniture Row Racing crew rose to the occasion in the Bank of America 500, getting their driver out of the pits first under caution with seven laps remaining. Truex rocketed away from the field on the restart two laps later, and after a quick caution set up an overtime, he took off once again to win his sixth race of the season in easy fashion.

“Thanks to my guys. Everybody on this team is really amazing,” Truex told NBC Sports. “The pit crew was flawless. We had track position and we were able to keep it.”

Chase Elliott, still chasing his first career NASCAR Cup victory, once again finished second, his sixth career runner-up finish.

Kevin Harvick, who entered the pits for that final pit stop running second, wasn’t so fortunate, losing four spots. He fought back to finish third. Harvick, who had not won a race stage since the second race of the year, swept the first two stages Sunday.

“That’s about where we were going to run,” Harvick said, shrugging off the slow pit stop.

Kyle Busch, who started fourth, had a disastrous day from the start. He hit the wall three times and spun another time, and ultimately finished 29th. It got worse. After the event he climbed out of his car and laid down on the ground, as medical staff tended to him. He got up a couple of minutes later with a smile on his face.

The biggest smile Sunday, though, belonged to Truex. The weekend didn’t start well. He qualified 25th, an uncharacteristically poor qualifying run. But with the victory, he clinched a spot in the Round of 8. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup playoffs leader probably had enough of a points cushion to coast into the next round, but the win removes any doubt.

NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series results from Bank of America 500Â at Charlotte

  1. Martin Truex Jr.2. Chase Elliott3. Kevin Harvick4. Denny Hamlin5. Jamie McMurray6. Daniel Suarez7. Jimmie Johnson8. Ryan Blaney9. Kasey Kahne10. Kyle Larson11. Matt Kenseth12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.14. Trevor Bayne15. Brad Keselowski16. Austin Dillon17. Erik Jones18. Chris Buescher19. Paul Menard20. AJ Allmendinger21. Ty Dillon22. Kurt Busch23. Matt DiBenedetto24. Aric Almirola25. Landon Cassill26. Joey Logano27. Clint Bowyer28. Corey LaJoie29. Kyle Busch30. Jeffrey Earnhardt31. Reed Sorenson32. B.J. McLeod33. Timmy Hill34. Cole Whitt35. Michael McDowell36. Gray Gaulding37. David Ragan38. Danica Patrick39. Brett Moffitt40. Ryan Newman

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