Larson Stays Hot, Wins at Sonoma

Kyle Larson won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his second-consecutive victory.

Larson started on the pole on Sunday, and led a race-high 57 laps on his way to victory.

Larson had to hold off his teammate Chase Elliott in the closing laps.  Elliott, who has the most wins on road course among active drivers, tried to find a way around Larson over the final three restarts.

Larson said he didn’t like having to give Elliott so many chances over the final batch of restarts.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

“I felt like I did a good job the one before, and stretched it out a little bit,” Larson said.  “I didn’t want to give him another try at it, but he kept the pressure on.”

Larson was born in Southern California, and said it was special to pick up a victory at his home track.

“This will always be home to me, even if I live way out on the East Coast,” Larson said.  “To get back-to-back wins in the Cup Series is something I’ve always dreamt of doing, and to get it done feels great.”

Elliott said he didn’t know what else he could have done to get past his teammate and get to victory lane.

“I feel like we were a lot better there at the end than we were at the beginning,” Elliott said.  “I wish we could have gotten another spot but we’ll try again.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Chase Elliott

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Joey Logano

5. Kyle Busch

6. Kurt Busch

7. Ross Chastain

8. Denny Hamlin

9. Alex Bowman

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Erik Jones

12. Daniel Suarez

13. Austin Dillon

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Chris Buescher

17. Chase Briscoe

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Cole Custer

21. Ryan Preece

22. Kevin Harvick

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Christopher Bell

25. James Davison

26. Scott Heckert

27. Aric Almirola

28. Michael McDowell

29. Josh Bilicki

30. Ben Rhodes

31. Anthony Alfredo

32. Garrett Smithley

33. Ryan Newman

34. Cody Ware

35. William Byron

36. Quin Houff

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Truex Tricks the Field for Sonoma Win

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Truex had a dominant car throughout the race and led 62 of 110 laps, but he had to use pit strategy to take the lead for the final time.

10 laps before making his final pit stop, Truex’s crew chief called him to pit road, but told him to stay out at the last second.  After hearing the call, Kevin Harvick pitted and was forced onto a different pit strategy.

Truex said he trusted crew chief Cole Pearn’s judgement.

“It’s all Cole,” Truex said.  “I’m cool with whatever he wants to do…a lot of trust in him.”

Once he had the lead, Truex was far enough ahead of Harvick that he was never challenged for the lead over the final 20-lap run.

Truex said he was worried a caution would come out in the closing laps and ruin their strategy.

“Honestly, all you’re doing is hoping that a caution doesn’t come out,” Truex said.  “Just hoping for no cautions and don’t make any mistakes.”

Harvick said he didn’t blame his team for calling him to pit road after they had been tricked by Truex.

“We all make mistakes…we all do things split-second that aren’t right after it all happens,” Harvick said.  “We had a shot today…and I was just too hard on the car the first couple stages.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Chase Elliott

5. Kyle Busch

6. Kurt Busch

7. Erik Jones

8. Aric Almirola

9. Alex Bowman

10. Denny Hamlin

11. Jimmie Johnson

12. Chris Buescher

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Kyle Larson

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Austin Dillon

17. Matt DiBenedetto

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Joey Logano

20. Kasey Kahne

21. Michael McDowell

22. David Ragan

23. Parker Kligerman

24. Ryan Newman

25. William Byron

26. Paul Menard

27. Trevor Bayne

28. Justin Marks

29. Darrell Wallace Jr.

30. Gray Gaulding

31. Chris Cook

32. Tomy Drissi

33. Ty Dillon

34. Ryan Blaney

35. Cole Whitt

36. Cody Ware

37. Jamie McMurray

38. AJ Allmendinger

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Harvick Wins at Sonoma

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kevin Harvick won the Toyota/Save-Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Harvick led 24 of 110 laps, but he had to save some fuel over the final run to make it to victory lane.  Harvick thanked his team in victory lane for using a successful strategy to get their first win of the season.

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

“Just really proud of everybody, they had a great strategy,” Harvick said.  “We were able to make it happen.”

Harvick won his first race with Ford on Sunday, after an offseason manufacturer switch for Stewart-Haas Racing saw them switch from Chevrolet to Ford.  Harvick said he’s happy to finally see his team’s hard work pay off with a victory.

“I want to thank everyone from…Stewart-Haas Racing for everything that they’ve done,” Harvick said.  “It’s been a lot of work…and it’s paying off.  We’ve been competitive, we just haven’t gotten to victory lane.”

“We’ve had a couple opportunities to get there, we just came up a little bit short.”

Harvick’s teammate Clint Bowyer finished second on Sunday after an eventful race.  His car, held together with duct tape, looked like it had no business running up front.  Bowyer said he and his team kept working through adversity at a track where he normally runs well.

“I tore the hell out of it, there’s no way around it,” Bowyer said.  “That’s road racing; you’ve got to keep digging no matter what.  You’re not down and out until you’re out.”

“To get a finish like that, you just can’t give up.  Things turned around there on that long run; that’s always my strong suit here.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Clint Bowyer

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Kyle Busch

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

7. Kurt Busch

8. Chase Elliott

9. Ryan Blaney

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Paul Menard

12. Joey Logano

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Michael McDowell

15. Ryan Newman

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Danica Patrick

18. Austin Dillon

19. Chris Buescher

20. Matt Kenseth

21. Cole Whitt

22. Billy Johnson

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Kasey Kahne

25. Erik Jones

26. Kyle Larson

27. Trevor Bayne

28. Ty Dillon

29. Boris Said

30. Landon Cassill

31. David Ragan

32. Alon Day

33. Kevin O’Connell

34. Tommy Regan

35. AJ Allmendinger

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Martin Truex Jr.

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Tony Stewart Finds Victory in Sonoma

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Tony Stewart won the Toyota-Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon for his first win in three years, breaking an 83-race winless streak.

Photo courtesy Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Stewart, who is retiring at the end of the year, had to move Denny Hamlin out of the way in the final turn to pick up the victory.  Stewart said he made mistakes the last two laps, and it almost cost him the victory.

“I had just a little too much rear-brake for turn 7 and wheel-hopped it two laps in a row,” Stewart said.  “[Hamlin] told me he knew it was coming.”

On the final lap, Stewart went high in turn 7, and Hamlin moved him out of the way.  Hamlin went high in turn 11, and he and Stewart made contact, which sent Hamlin into the wall.  

Hamlin said he and Stewart did what they had to do to try and win the race.

“I was looking in the rearview more than I was looking out front,” Hamlin said.  “I just slid up…and allowed him to get a good run on me.  Once he had the inside position, we weren’t going to drag race at that point.  I knew he was going to put me in the wall.”

Stewart said the victory was special because it came in his final race at Sonoma.

“Especially at a place you’re going to for the last time, that means a bunch,” Stewart said.  “They’re all good, it don’t matter where you get them.  Just an awesome job.”

Stewart’s win was very important in helping to get into the Chase.  After missing the first eight races of the season following an off-season back injury, Stewart needed to get a win and finish the regular season in the top 30 in points.  Following Sunday’s victory, Stewart sits 32nd in points, just 9 points out of 30th.

Unofficial results:

1. Tony Stewart

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Joey Logano

4. Carl Edwards

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Kyle Busch

8. Ryan Newman

9. Kasey Kahne

10. Kurt Busch

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

12. Kyle Larson

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. AJ Allmendinger

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Paul Menard

17. Jamie McMurray

18. Greg Biffle

19. Danica Patrick

20. Matt Kenseth

21. Chase Elliott

22. Austin Dillon

23. Ryan Blaney

24. Casey Mears

25. Trevor Bayne

26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

27. Aric Almirola

28. Regan Smith

29. Landon Cassill

30. Chris Buescher

31. Matt DiBenedetto

32. David Ragan

33. Brian Scott

34. Cole Whitt

35. Dylan Lupton

36. Michael Annett

37. Patrick Carpentier

38. Josh Wise

39. Michael McDowell

40. Clint Bowyer

Photo courtesy Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Returns to Victory Lane

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Kyle Busch won the Toyota-Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday.

Photo courtesy Jonathan Moore/Getty Images

Busch picked up his first victory of the season on Sunday.  Busch missed the first 11 races of the season with an ankle injury after crashing in the first Xfinity Series race in February.

“This is awesome,” Busch said.  “I can’t say enough about my team…everyone that got me back in shape and got me back ready to go.”

Busch’s victory makes him eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but he still has to make the top 30 in driver points.  Busch left Sonoma 37th in points, still needing an average finish of 13th or better over the remaining 10 races before the Chase cutoff.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, we knew we did in the beginning,” Busch said.  “It’s unfortunate that we had a couple crashes and I hate it for my guys…they don’t deserve to be in that spot.”

Many in the NASCAR community were worried that Sonoma’s twists and turns, which require substantial braking, would aggravate Busch’s foot injury.  Busch said there was nothing to worry about.

“My foot hurts a little bit, but not as bad as I expected it to,” Busch said.  “It actually hurt worse in practice, I think I warmed it up all day Friday.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kurt Busch

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Joey Logano

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

8. Kasey Kahne

9. Ryan Newman

10. Sam Hornish Jr.

11. Jamie McMurray

12. Tony Stewart

13. Paul Menard

14. Aric Almirola

15. Kyle Larson

16. Jeff Gordon

17. Austin Dillon

18. Denny Hamlin

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Matt Kenseth

22. Cole Whitt

23. Trevor Bayne

24. Danica Patrick

25. Alex Kennedy

26. Boris Said

27. Greg Biffle

28. Josh Wise

29. Matt DiBenedetto

30. Justin Marks

31. Alex Bowman

32. Jeb Burton

33. Michael Annett

34. Michael McDowell

35. Justin Allgaier

36. Landon Cassill

37. AJ Allmendinger

38. Casey Mears

39. David Ragan

40. Carl Edwards

41. J.J. Yeley

42. Martin Truex Jr.

43. David Gilliland

Photo courtesy Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images