Martin Truex, Jr. led 248 of the 293 laps for his 30th career victory in NASCAR’s top series holding off a late charge from Kyle Larson to win for the third time this season and take home the Goodyear 400 from Darlington. 

Barely pushed much of the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver suddenly saw Larson catching up in the closing laps.

The victory gave Truex some payback at Darlington from the last time here last September, when he led 196 laps, yet finished 22nd after tangling for the lead late with Chase Elliott.

This time, Truex made sure he had no issues by running out front — often holding a 10-second lead on the field — to win for the second time at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”

He took control midway through the first of three stages, moving in front on a restart and settling in for a long ride up front. Truex led the final 21 laps to take the first stage, then the last 36 as he collected the second stage win by some 14 seconds over his JGR teammate Kyle Busch.

Truex broke out when racing resumed for the final stage and easily managed a couple of rounds of green-flag pits stops to stay ahead.

Larson was second with Truex’s teammate, Kyle Busch, third. William Byron was fourth and Denny Hamlin, who came in as the NASCAR points’ leader, was fifth.

Larson charged hard to catch up, even using a dramatic sliding pass between Ryan Newman and Tyler Reddick to keep chasing the lead.

Kyle Busch followed up his first win of the season at Kansas last week with a solid third place at Darlington. It was Busch’s sixth top 10 finish in his last seven races here. Busch’s lone victory at Darlington came in 2008.

NASCAR heads to Dover International Speedway for another triple-header weekend where the Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series will take place before the Cup Series race at the Monster Mile. Kevin Harvick won the Cup Series event there in 2020, part of his season best nine victories.