Martin Truex Jr. got nervous in a hurry near the end of his dominating drive at Darlington Raceway.
Barely pushed much of the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver suddenly saw Kyle Larson catching up in the closing laps.
Truex, though, called on his steady demeanor and track focus to pull away for his third NASCAR Cup Series victory this season.
Not that it was easy.
When Truex noticed Larson right behind him inside of 30 laps left, he thought, “Oh, man, he’s right behind me.
“You’re heart rate goes up,” he continued, “You’re anxiety goes up.”
Very quickly, Truex was back to his steady, powerhouse driving at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”
“Hopefully, we can keep this rolling,” Truex said.
Truex’s owner, Joe Gibbs, told him after that Larson gave the three-time Super Bowl winning coach a scare. “Yeah, he scared me, too,” Truex told him.
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.
