Martin Truex Jr. was the class of the NASCAR Cup Series field in Sunday’s Toyota / SaveMart 350 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, dominating the event and winning his second race of the season.
Leading 51 of the 110 laps around the 1.99-mile road course, Truex looked to be in command all throughout the Cup Series’ second road race of the season.
Though a caution flag with 18 laps to go due to polesitter Denny Hamlin slapping the inside wall and crashing on the frontstretch erased Truex’s over four-second advantage.
Electing to pit, Truex won the race off pit road, but had to restart fourth with Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney all staying out.
On the ensuing restart with 15 laps to go, Truex made quick work of the front three with ease, vaulting back to the lead one lap later.
From there Truex kept former teammate Kyle Busch at bay to notch his 33rd career win in the Cup Series.
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“I felt like our Bass Pro Shops Camry TRD was really close yesterday in practice, if we could make a few adjustments, I thought we would be good,” Truex said. “They definitely made the right adjustments. This place is all about rear traction, rear drive and being able to manage that and keep turning and keep momentum. We were able to do that today. The car was really, really good. Just a total team effort.”
It’s been a major turnaround for Truex and the Toyota camp on road courses, after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver didn’t lead a single lap last year during NASCAR’s six stops to non-ovals. His average finish going left and right last year was 17.8.
“Everybody works really, really hard,” Truex said. “We were awful here last year, and at road course in general, so to come back here – this has kind of been a playground for us before, and to be able to get back here with this car and do it again feels really, really special. It’s really gratifying. We’ve worked hard for this one.”
The win was the 2017 Cup Series champion’s fourth win at Sonoma, putting him in sole possession of second on the Sonoma all-time wins list (Jeff Gordon, five wins).
Behind Truex, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch continued his recent hot streak, earning his fourth consecutive top 10 finish. Busch notched his third win of the season a week prior at Worldwide Technology (Ill.) Raceway.
“I wish we had a little bit more,” Busch admitted. “I tried really hard at the end to at least try to keep Martin honest. Felt like I could beat him a little bit on a lap, then I would mess up. He would beat me by a little bit more on the next lap. We were just kind of trading a little bit there. He was able to pull away there late.”
Reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano earned his second consecutive third place finish aboard the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang.
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher notched his seventh top 10 of the year after finishing fourth.
Fresh off his suspension, Elliott wheeled his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro to a fifth place effort.
Key Notes
• Stage One winner (Denny Hamlin, finished 36th)
• Stage Two winner (Kyle Busch, finished second)
• First caution came out on lap 50 after Zane Smith’s tire rolled out of the pit box.
• Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger’s weekend ended strong, after finishing second in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race and sixth in Sunday’s Cup Series event.
• Michael McDowell gave Front Row Motorsports their second top 10 in a row (Gateway, ninth) after finishing seventh. McDowell started third, his best starting position of the season.