DARLINGTON, S.C. – Kyle Larson dominated the opening stage of Sunday night’s 69th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500, getting his quest for victory off to a flying start with his second stage win of the season.

Larson charged to the point on lap 12, surging to the outside of polesitter Denny Hamlin, and never lost the lead again despite a round of green-flag pit stops at the mid-point of the stage.

The Elk Grove, Calif., native cruised to the green-and-white checkered flag after that, crossing the line 3.123 seconds ahead of Erik Jones after holding as much as seven seconds over the field at times during the 100-lap segment.

After a lightning delay of nearly an hour before the green flag finally waved, the first stage of Sunday night’s race ran caution-free.

“The car felt good there,” noted Larson during the first stage break. “This is a long race, but it’s a really solid start for us and I hope we can keep it going. Once we got out front, this piece really took off and I think we’ve got a lot of speed.”

Behind Larson and Jones, Truex was third, more than eight seconds adrift of the lead. Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski followed in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott completed the points-scoring drivers in the top 10 at the first stage break.

William Byron was the highest-running rookie in 14th, while his teammate Jimmie Johnson found himself two laps down in 31st after a commitment line violation on a green-flag pit stop.