SPARTA, Ky. — Just call him the stage master.

Martin Truex Jr. stormed to his 12th stage win of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway, winning the opening 80-lap stage of the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts.

Truex led the final 13 laps of the stage and 14 overall, passing polesitter and early leader Kyle Busch on the backstretch at lap 68 and going on to a 1.141 second margin when the green-checkered flag flew over the field.

The Mayetta, N.J. native and driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota now has a total of 22 playoff points banked so far this season.

“I’m just running my own race here,” Truex said. “The Furniture Row Toyota’s been good and (Turn) 3’s been tricky; everything’s been tricky, really. Both ends really are pretty tricky. The tire rubber’s laid in the track real funny on long runs and it’s getting real bad slippery spots in it … so it’s kind of all over the place. We’ll keep digging here.”

Only a scheduled competition caution at lap 30 slowed the early pace, with Busch hanging on to second in the No. 18 Snickers Toyota ahead of Kyle Larson, who started at the rear of the field after not being able to post a qualifying time on Friday but drove past 37 cars to come home third at the stage break.

Told that Larson had moved that far through the field, Truex responded, “We’ll pay attention to what we’re doing. I could care less where the 42’s at.”

Kevin Harvick’s Ford and Jamie McMurray’s Chevrolet were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott completed the points-scoring drivers in the top 10.

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77

Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com

Follow RCO on Twitter: @RaceChaserNews