Kyle Larson Wins the NASCAR Cup Series Race at Sonoma

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

SONOMA, CA – RIS – Kyle Larson started from the pole and dominated the NASCAR Cup race at the  road course at Sanoma Raceway on Sunday. Larson won both stages and outran Chase Elliott to the final overtime checkered flag. Martin Truex finished third.  Joey Logano and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five finishers on the tricky road course.

“(The race) was not easy. Any road course isn’t easy, just trying to keep it on track is tough; especially when you’ve got two of the best behind you on the last restart, Chase (Elliott) and Martin (Truex, Jr.). I felt like I did a good job at the one before and stretched it out a little bit and didn’t want to give him another try at it, but he kept the pressure on. Martin was strong too, but what a car.”

Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won four straight races dating to Alex Bowman’s May 16 victory. Larson’s win a week ago in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway made Rick Hendrick the winningest owner in NASCAR history.

Larson, who had led just 11 laps in six previous combined races at Sonoma, led a race-high 58 of the 92 laps. The eighth caution sent the race to overtime for a two-race sprint shootout, but he easily cleared Elliott on the restart and pulled away for his first career victory on the 12-turns, 2.52-mile course.

This win marks the fourth consecutive race where Hendrick Motorsports cars have finished in the top two spots. The team went 1-2-3-4 at Dover, Elliott and Larson went 1-2 at COTA and Larson and Elliott went 1-2 a week ago at the Coca-Cola 600.

Denny Hamlin finished eighth on Sunday and now has his points lead less than a full race for the first time since March.

Larson has cut Hamlin's lead to 57 points from 76 points. Larson scored the maximum 60 points on Sunday — 10 each for winning the first two stages and 40 for winning the race — while Hamlin scored just 31.

Even though Larson had held the lead for most of the race, the race came down to caution near the end.  With five laps to go and Larson in the lead, a crash between Cody Ware and Ryan Preece in the esses brought out the caution. The ensuing restart with three laps to go ended with an incident involving Christopher Bell, Anthony Alfredo and Alex Bowman that sent the race to overtime. But on the first overtime attempt, Larson absorbed pressure on the climb up to Turn 1 from teammate Chase Elliott. He then pulled away to victory.

Many drivers had rough days.  An apparent tire failure sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the Turn 1 barrier on Lap 32. Stenhouse later returned, but heavy smoke from his car sent him back to the garage for good.

Brad Keselowski made pit road just before a Lap 72 caution for a stalled car. But instead of getting the lead when everyone else pitted, a penalty for a crew member being over the wall too soon sent him to the rear of the field. PRN later clarified that Keselowski’s right rear tire was sitting on the pit stall, not the wall, when he pitted; NASCAR judged that to be over the wall too soon and the penalty stood after review.

Next for the Cup drivers is the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway – Sun., June 13, 8 p.m. ET.

Unofficial Results, 32nd Annual Toyota/Save Mart 350, June 6, 2021, Sonoma Raceway - 2.52 - Mile Road

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 92, 1, 1, 6, 57, 7, 60, Running
2) 2, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 92, 2, 5, 1, 13, , 50, Running
3) 19, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Toyota, 92, 4, , , , , 41, Running
4) 13, Joey Logano, No. 22 Autotrader Ford, 92, , 2, 2, 5, , 42, Running
5) 5, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Sport Clips Toyota, 92, 3, 7, 1, 2, , 44, Running
6) 30, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 92, 8, 4, 2, 8, , 41, Running
7) 29, Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 4, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 92, , 9, 1, 2, , 31, Running
9) 7, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 92, 5, 3, , , , 42, Running
10) 11, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford, 92, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 18, Erik Jones, No. 43 Black Entrepreneur Initiative Chevrolet, 92, 10, , , , , 27, Running
12) 16, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 6, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Congressional Sportsmen's Chevrolet, 92, 6, , , , , 29, Running
14) 15, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 92, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 9, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 America's Tire Ford, 92, , 8, , , , 25, Running
16) 12, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 92, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 25, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford, 92, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 22, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Nations Guard Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 10, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet, 92, 7, , , , , 22, Running
20) 23, Cole Custer, No. 41 Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford, 92, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 27, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Cottonelle Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 8, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light  #BeerOverWine Ford, 92, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 17, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Knauf Ford, 92, 9, , , , , 16, Running
24) 20, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Toyota, 92, , 10, , , , 14, Running
25) 32, James Davison, No. 15 Clubhouse Media Group Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 35, Scott Heckert, No. 78 Surface Sunscreen Ford, 92, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 26, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Farmer John Ford, 92, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 21, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 92, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 36, Josh Bilicki, No. 52 Pacific Coast Termite, Inc. Ford, 92, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 31, Ben Rhodes(i), No. 77 Kaeding Performance Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 28, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 MDS Ford, 92, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 34, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 RJ's Paint Shop Ford, 92, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 24, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford, 92, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 37, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 84, , , , , , 0, Accident
35) 3, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 76, , 6, 1, 5, , 7, Accident
36) 33, Quin Houff, No. 00 8 Ball Chocolate Whiskey Chevrolet, 69, , , , , , 1, Rear Gear
37) 14, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 SunnyD Chevrolet, 40, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 42 Secs.
Race Length: 92 Laps, 231.84 Miles
Average Speed: 71.445 MPH
Margin of Victory: .614 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 9, 18, 19, 48, 3, 8, 1, 21, 43

Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 22, 48, 1, 9, 24, 18, 2, 11, 20

Race Comments: Kyle Larson won the 32nd running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, his ninth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 38 (inspection violation), No. 78 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 8 for 18 laps;
Laps: 12-13 (Competition Caution [None]);
22-24 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
33-34 (#47 Incident Turn 1 [None]);
42-44 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]);
72-74 (#00 Stopped on Track Turn 6 [51]);
78-79 (#24, 48, 4, 43, 20, 7, 42 Incident Turn 11 [23]);
87-87 (#51, 37, 21 Incident Turn 8 [15]);
89-90 (#38, 20, 12, 48 Incident Turn 4 [53]).

Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers;
K. Larson 1-9;
D. Hamlin 10-11;
K. Larson 12-21;
K. Busch 22-27;
W. Byron 28-32;
K. Larson 33-42;
K. Busch 43-44;
C. Elliott 45-57;
K. Larson 58-64;
J. Logano 65-66;
K. Busch 67-68;
K. Larson 69-72;
J. Logano 73-75;
K. Larson 76-92.

Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Chase Briscoe, #14