Truex Jr. Wins at Sonoma

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Martin Truex Jr. picked up his second career Sprint Cup Series victory when he won the Toyota Save Mart 350 from Sonoma, California on Sunday afternoon.

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates his first win in over 6 years (Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

Truex led 51 of 110 laps on his way to victory on Sunday.  He took the lead for the final time on lap 85, and he ran away from Juan Pablo Montoya over the final 25-lap run.  

The win was Truex's first trip to victory lane since June 4, 2007 at Dover.  Truex said he was speechless after the victory, and he thanked his team for sticking behind him while he was in victory lane.

"I can't even put it into words," Truex told TNT.  "The team, they're just phenomenal.  We've been close a lot, and it feels damn good."

Juan Pablo Montoya was headed towards a runner-up finish, but he ran out of gas on the final lap.  Montoya's problems allowed Jeff Gordon to finish second after Gordon had problems of his own during the race.  Gordon was about to hit pit road when the caution came out, and he was penalized for pitting while pit road was closed.

The race hadn't even started when the trouble started for some teams.  While the cars were pulling off pit road, Paulie Harraka, who was making his Sprint Cup Series debut, crashed into the back of Alex Kennedy, causing both drivers to get serious damage to their cars.

Once the race went green, Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch both took their turns at the front of the field, until Brad Keselowski used pit strategy to take the lead on lap 34.  Less than 10 laps later, Truex took the lead for the first time.

Truex led until the caution came out on lap 70 and Joey Logano took the lead.  Jeff Gordon took the lead on lap 79, but when the caution came out again on lap 82, Truex was back in the lead and headed toward the victory.

Here are the unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Carl Edwards

4. Kurt Busch

5. Clint Bowyer

6. Kasey Kahne

7. Marcos Ambrose

8. Greg Biffle

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Joey Logano

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

13. Brian Vickers

14. Paul Menard

15. Ryan Newman

16. Casey Mears

17. Travis Kvapil

18. Boris Said

19. Matt Kenseth

20. Aric Almirola

21. Brad Keselowski

22. Ron Fellows

23. Denny Hamlin

24. David Gilliland

25. Jamie McMurray

26. David Reutimann

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

28. Tony Stewart

29. Danica Patrick

30. Justin Marks

31. Jeff Burton

32. Josh Wise

33. David Ragan

34. Juan Pablo Montoya

35. Kyle Busch

36. David Stremme

37. Victor Gonzalez Jr.

38. Tomy Drissi

39. Paulie Harraka

40. Alex Kennedy

41. Jacques Villeneuve

42. J.J. Yeley

43. Bobby Labonte

Next week, the Sprint Cup Series races under the lights for a rare Saturday night race.  Next Saturday's race will be the third Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, and the first in the new Gen 6 car.  The Quaker State 400 can be seen next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST, only on TNT.