Midway through NASCAR's longest Sprint Cup race of the season, Martin Truex Jr. showed his speed in qualifying was no fluke. He led the Coca-Cola 600 after 200 laps, or 300 miles, at Charlotte.
With the exception of changes wrought by pit stops, pole-sitter Truex showed the same race command he did at Texas and Kansas earlier this season. He could only hope Sunday results would not be better.
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Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and the rest of the 40-car field chased but couldn't get ahead of Truex.