Martin Truex Jr.’s quest for a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship has gotten off to an incredible start as he dominated the opening Stage of Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Truex led 60 of the 80 laps in the Stage, and cruised to a more-than six second lead before he relaxed in the closing laps of the Stage as he easily took the Stage 1 win.
The pace that Truex set was so feverish, that Truex had lapped up to the 13th-place car.
Truex could have lapped more, but he opted to spare his teammate Erik Jones, who was in 13th.
Kyle Larson, who has been a Homestead master in recent years, finished Stage 1 in second.
The other three drivers, who are battling Truex for the title, finished third thru fifth in the Stage.
Kyle Busch was third, Kevin Harvick led the opening 20 laps of the race and was fourth and Denny Hamlin ended up fifth.
Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10 finishers in Stage 1.
![RM_StPete_[Daniel Dye] (2)](https://tobychristie.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/RM_StPete_Daniel-Dye-2-e1773804343732-768x432.jpg)
