Martin Truex Jr. further stamped his authority as the best driver this season, with an utterly dominant performance to win Sunday’s throwback race at Darlington – his third win in 2021. Truex’s consistency has left some of the superstar competitors, including Kyle Busch, surprised at his ability to dominate races from start to finish.

In a season that has seen 10 different winners in 12 races, Truex is the only driver with more than 1 win. Busch won last weekend at Kansas and finished 3rd at Darlington, but still feels he is far behind Truex.

The no. 19 car of Truex was consistently way ahead of the others on Sunday. He was able to clock a lead of atleast 4-5 seconds during most stages before Kyle gave him a run for his money towards the end.

May 9, 2021; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) and Denny Hamlin (11) race in front of William Bryon (24) during the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Busch surprised with Martin Truex Jr.’s ability to take massive leads

“I don’t know why there’s a five-, six-, 10-second difference, whatever it is, between us and (Truex),” Kyle Busch after the race. “Just overall, there’s a little bit of a disconnect with where (Truex) was on overall speed,” he added.

Busch said there was a big difference, particularly in the Darlington race, between Truex and himself. At one point, while was in 2nd place and tried to catch up with , he was still ‘eight’ seconds behind his teammate.

“They would drive out on us eight seconds or whatever it was. so I think that distance right there. Why can my teammate run eight seconds on me? We should be able to keep the gap closer than that, so that’s where I feel like we really have to work,” the no. 18 driver expressed.

“Cookie-cutter for the Truex type era”

Busch certainly seems to be getting better as the season progresses. He has now contended for wins in back-to-back races, winning one of them. However, he believes there is still much more to do and his cars from 2017-18 were much more superior.

“Our cars, in the 2017-2018 time frame were always really good. I feel like this is kind of a cookie-cutter for the Truex type era if you will. Obviously, it paid dividends for him today,” Busch further.

May 9, 2021; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. (19) races during the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Truex’s 3 wins have come at Phoenix, Martinsville, and now Darlington. All three are quite significant tracks during the playoffs, with Phoenix hosting the championship race and Martinsville hosting the race before that.

He has already shown how big a title contender he is this year. The likes of Busch, Larson, and , on the other hand, need to find a way soon to catch up to the JGR star on these key tracks.

READ MORE –

The post appeared first on .