Throwback weekend was without a doubt a success. Almost every team that came to Darlington was sporting a throwback paint scheme, and some drivers and team members went even farther and went throwback with their beards and hair. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about the race.

Kevin Harvick won the pole thanks to owner points, and ironically Harvick had the fastest car. Kevin led over 200 of the race’s 367 laps, and was obviously the class of the field. But the fastest driver doesn’t always win.

For the first part of the race, there were no cautions. Just clean, fast racing. Harvick paced the field, but there was plenty of good racing behind him. Drivers such as Chris Buescher and Ryan Newman battled hard to gain as many points as they possibly could, and drivers Austin Dillon, Chase Elliot, and Jamie McMurray battled to stay ahead of the Newman and other Chase bubble racers. It was a race inside a race. A battle within a war.

During a round of green flag pit stops on lap 95, the race’s first caution flew. Trevor Bayne spun trying to get to pit road, and fortunately no one was near him. However, due to the odd timing of his spin, the field was scrambled. Kevin Harvick was dropped to fifth, and Brad Keslowski, Chase Elliot, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Chris Buescher found themselves in the top-four. Keslowski’s lead was short lived, as he was quickly caught by Harvick, who continued his dominance.

The race was quiet for a time, but on lap 204, Nascar got another blast from the past: an angry Tony Stewart. Stewart, who was running in the top-12 most of the night, was tring to pass lapped car Brian Scott. Scott hadn’t yet slowed to let Stewart past though. Scott attempted to wave Stewart past, but apparently Stewart thought it was a rather unfriendly gesture. Stewart clipped Scott’s bumper, and sent him spinning into the inside wall. Scott was calm in his interview, stating he wasn’t trying to hold Stewart up. Stewart simply stated ‘”He wrecked,” with a rather guilty grin on his face. Knowing Stewart, Scott may want to consider using multiple fingers for hand gestures in the future.

The race continued, and race leader encountered a familiar problem: slow pit stops. Again and again, Harvick’s crew lost spots on pit road. Harvick did his best to make them up on the track, but the major hit came on lap 283, when an air gun broke on a pit stop, and he dropped from 1st to 12th.

Harvicks misfortune left the door open for a new leader: Kyle Larson. Fresh of his first career win at Michigan, Larson had a fast car, and that speed gave him the lead after Harvick’s troubles.

On lap 318, Tony Stewart’s engine went up in smoke, ending what was a promising night. Stewart had had overheating issues earlier in the night, and the engine had finally given up.

Just after the restart after Stewart’s engine failure, Paul Menard blew a left rear tire while under Kurt Busch in the corner. Menard slid up the track and tagged Busch, who smashed into the inside wall, ending his night.

While others came to pit road for fresh tires, Ryan Newman, who entered Darlington 15 points out of the Chase, stayed on the track to gain the lead. Newman maintained the lead for a little, but was soon passed by another challenger: Martin Truex Jr. Truex had been quiet all night running near the front, and as the end loomed, he pounced, taking the led from Newman, and pulling away from the field.

However, as usual, Truex didn’t get to have clear sailing. Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer got together while racing at the back of the field, and wrecked, bringing out a caution. Truex said over the radio, ‘”I knew it was to good to be true.”‘ Truex’s luck this year has been awful.

However, for once his crew didn’t screw up. Truex got of pit road ahead  of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson, and had a great restart. For the first time in his career, Martin Truex Jr. won his second race of a season. And he has claimed his victories at great moments, because he’s won two of the four biggest races in the Sprint Cup Series. This is Truex’s fourth career victory, the third for Furniture Row Racing, Truex’s third victory with the team, and the team’s second victory at Darlington. Their first came in 2011 with Regan Smith.

Unlike last week, the Chase bubble was unchanged, although both Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray lost ground on Ryan Newman, who is the lone driver who is close enough in points to get to McMurray, Dillon, or Chase Elliot. I’ll discuss this more in my Chase post in a day or two.