CONCORD, N.C. — Audio and recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Drew Hallowell/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —

Martin Truex Jr.’s win in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 was, quite simply, a beatdown of epic proportions.

The Furniture Row Racing driver destroyed the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series field at Charlotte Motor Speedway, leading a track-record 392 of 400 laps en route to his first victory of the season, all but assuring himself a second-straight berth on the Chase Grid in the process.

Truex won the pole on Friday, led final practice on Saturday and only gave up the lead during green-flag pit stops all night, scoring a perfect 150.0 Driver Rating before capping a truly dominating weekend with a huge celebration in victory lane alongside longtime girlfriend Sherry Pollex.

“We did it. We won the 600,” Truex said with a huge smile. “It means a lot to me, and to be honest, it’s just kind of sinking in now. This is a big night — we’ve got the troops on the cars on a special weekend — and it’s really neat to bring that name (U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Jeffrey Bohr) home in victory lane. It’s a lot of emotion right now and I’m not real sure it’s sunk in yet (just what we’ve done), but it will.”

Truex set a myriad of NASCAR and race records on his way to his fourth career Sprint Cup victory, among them: the shortest 600 in history (three hours, 44 minutes and eight seconds), the fastest 600 in history (160.644 mph) and the most miles led by one driver (588) in a single race in NASCAR history at any facility.

“This has been an amazing day … an amazing weekend, really, for all of us. It’s the kind of weekend you dream about.”

“(A performance like this) shows that we always keep fighting, we never give up and we never quit. We always dig deeper. I’m so proud of my guys for sticking behind me. The pit crew’s come a long way; they did a great job tonight. It’s those guys, plus all the fans that’ve supported us over the last couple years through so many heartbreaks, that keep pushing us forward — so I really appreciate that. All in all, I had a lot of fun racing tonight.”

The race itself only had four caution flags, for a combined 19 laps, all night long.

The first, a scheduled competition caution, flew on lap 26 due to heavy overnight rains that had washed the surface clean of the weekend’s rubber buildup. Two accidents followed that up — on lap 114 when Brian Scott spun his Ford in turn two and on lap 204 when Jeffrey Earnhardt tagged the outside SAFER Barrier exiting turn four — and a final debris caution briefly stalled the field with 61 laps to go, catching Dale Earnhardt Jr. on pit road and ending any hopes he had for a top 10 finish.

None of that quartet was of any consequence to Truex, however, who roared away each time the green flag returned despite a momentary scare by Jimmie Johnson on the final restart at lap 345.

Ultimately, he was able to deliver his first win since Pocono in June of 2015 — as well as his first-ever Cup win outside of the month of June — for both himself and Pollex in the end, breaking a yearlong string of heartbreaks and near-misses that included a second-place finish in this year’s Daytona 500, as well as two races (Texas and Kansas) where he led the most laps but failed to win.

“It’s amazing, I kept telling him that he had to lose all those races and that God was just building his character to win the big one,” Pollex said of Truex. “This is huge for us. In our hometown and (in front of) our family … and for Johnny (Morris, with Bass Pro Shops) and (team owner) Barney (Visser) … it’s just amazing. We’ve been through so much. This is just the icing on the cake.”