It’s hard to believe it took Martin Truex Jr. until race 10 of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season to snag his first Stage Win of the year (Truex has been a Stage Winning machine since the format was adapted in 2017).
However, Truex did finally get that first Stage Win of the year in Stage 1 of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Truex led twice for 23 laps in Stage 1, but he took the lead for good on lap 87 when he passed Kevin Harvick during a long green flag run.
Kyle Busch charged to a second place finish in Stage 1, and he was followed by Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin.
While Harvick led the most laps in Stage 1 (46), he faded to a fifth-place finish as he lined up in the outside lane on the final restart.
Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 and also scored Stage Points.
William Byron had a tire go down during the Stage, which put the driver of the No. 24 car seven laps off the pace. Byron was 38th at the end of Stage 1.
John Hunter Nemechek brought out the caution on lap 94 when he went for a spin off of turn four. The spin put Nemechek a lap down in 27th.
