Kyle Larson Wins NASCAR Cup Race at Sonoma

NASCAR
Sanoma, CA – RIS – Kyle Larson came on late in the race at the picturesque road course at Somona and went on to victory. Larson only led 19 of the 110 laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, and he claimed his second win on the 1.99-mile road course by 4.258 seconds. His third win of the season also marked the 26th of his Cup Series career.
Michael McDowell finished as the runner-up in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Chris Buescher in an RFK Ford took third, with Chase Elliott fourth and Ross Chastain fifth.
Larson’s tires were 13 laps fresher in the final green-flag stretch, and he slipped by Martin Truex Jr. and Buescher on Lap 102 to take the lead for the last time. Truex, who recovered from an early spin, was in position to finish as the runner-up, but his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota sputtered out of fuel within sight of the checkered flag.
Lap 2 was very unlucky for Denny Hamlin as he had a rare engine failure on the second lap. To add insult to injury, Ty Gibbs was out just 14 laps later after his No. 54 Toyota crunched the Turn 11 wall, damaging his right front and sending him into the Turn 1 barrier.
Chris Buescher led laps late in the race and won Stage 2. In the waning laps, his worn tires relegated him to third place.
The victory for Larson, who grew up 80 miles away from Sonoma Raceway in Elk Grove, was his second on the rolling road course in picturesque wine country. It is the fifth win on a road course for NASCAR’s 2021 Cup champion and moved him to the top of the current series standings.
“I didn’t know what we were doing as far as strategy. I was just out there banging laps away,” Larson said. “I don’t know, we study all the strategy, but it’s like doing homework: I don’t really know what I’m looking at.
“So, I was like, ‘Well, man, these guys are going to have to pit another time, maybe?’ Then we said we had to go race and pass these guys, I got a bit nervous.”
Larson tried to compete in both the Indianapolis 500, but inclement weather spoiled that attempt, causing the Indianapolis race to finish late and the Coco-Cola 600 was called for rain before he could take a lap.
NASCAR takes the Cup Series to Iowa Speedway for the first time in track history. NASCAR began using the track in 2006 for lower level series and then national series in 2009, but never Cup. NASCAR stopped using the track after the 2019 season. IndyCar made the track an annual stop in 2007 and has been there every year since except 2021.
Unofficial Results: Toyota / Save Mart 350, June 9, 2024 - Sonoma Raceway
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/9/2024 @ 07:03 PM Eastern
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 5, Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet, 110, 3, , 2, 19, 5, 48, Running
2) 12, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 110, 6, , , , , 40, Running
3) 26, Chris Buescher, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, 110, , 1, 2, 32, 1, 44, Running
4) 4, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet, 110, 4, , 1, 3, , 40, Running
5) 9, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, 110, 7, , , , , 36, Running
6) 11, AJ Allmendinger(i), No. 16 Cirkul Chevrolet, 110, , 5, 1, 3, , 0, Running
7) 3, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Moen Ford, 110, 2, , 1, 1, , 39, Running
8) 2, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota, 110, 1, , 2, 35, 1, 39, Running
9) 15, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 110, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 14, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Inc. Ford, 110, 10, 8, , , , 31, Running
11) 17, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 110, 9, , , , , 28, Running
12) 29, Kyle Busch, No. 8 zone Chevrolet, 110, , 4, 1, 1, , 32, Running
13) 35, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 King's Hawaiian/Despicable Me 4 Ford, 110, , 6, , , , 29, Running
14) 7, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 110, 8, , , , , 26, Running
15) 8, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Pride Chevrolet, 110, 5, , , , , 28, Running
16) 20, Zane Smith #, No. 71 Wellcare Chevrolet, 110, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 13, Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet, 110, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 30, Ryan Preece, No. 41 Caymus Vineyards Ford, 110, , 2, , , , 28, Running
19) 38, Erik Jones, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota, 110, , 7, , , , 22, Running
20) 18, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota, 110, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 1, Joey Logano, No. 22 Autotrader Ford, 110, , 9, 1, 16, , 18, Running
22) 28, Austin Cindric, No. 2 America's Tire Ford, 110, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 36, Kaz Grala #, No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford, 110, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 33, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Health/Tylenol Chevrolet, 110, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 22, Harrison Burton, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 110, , 10, , , , 13, Running
26) 19, Noah Gragson, No. 10 Overstock.com Ford, 110, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 21, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 110, , 3, 1, 1, , 18, Running
28) 34, Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 37, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Save Mart Toyota, 109, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 6, William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, 108, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 24, * Will Brown, No. 33 Mobile X/Shaw and Partners Chevrolet, 107, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 32, Josh Berry #, No. 4 Mobil 1 50th Anniversary Ford, 95, , , , , , 5, Suspension
33) 27, Justin Haley, No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford, 88, , , , , , 4, Steering
34) 23, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford, 73, , , , , , 3, Transmission
35) 31, * Cam Waters, No. 60 AUKUS/BuildSubmarines.com Ford, 66, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 16, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet, 39, , , , , , 1, DVP
37) 10, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota, 16, , , , , , 1, DVP
38) 25, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Toyota, 2, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie
Race Length: 110 Laps, 218.9 Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 56 Mins, 14 Secs.
Average Speed: 74.526 MPH
Margin of Victory: 4.258 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 45, 12, 5, 9, 48, 34, 1, 99, 7, 38
Stage 2 Top 10: 17, 41, 19, 8, 16, 6, 43, 38, 22, 21
Comments: Kyle Larson has won the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, his 26th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Cautions: 8 for 22 laps;
Laps: 4-6 (Fluid On Track From No. 11 [None]);
17-18 (No. 54 Incident Turn 1 [None]);
20-22 (No. 2, 21, 22, 14, 47 Incident Turn 3A [42]);
27-29 (Stage 1 Conclusion [42]);
33-34 (No. 33 Stopped On Track [None]);
36-39 (No. 4, 3, 20, 24, 60, 19, 43 Incident Turn 11 [None]);
41-42 (No. 2, 34, 10 Incident Turn 8A [24]);
57-59 (Stage 2 Conclusion [33]).
Lead Changes: 11 among 9 drivers;
J. Logano 1-16;
T. Reddick 17-33;
R. Blaney 34;
T. Reddick 35-52;
C. Buescher 53-67;
A. Allmendinger(i) 68-70;
K. Larson 71-80;
C. Elliott 81-83;
C. Buescher 84-100;
M. Truex Jr. 101;
K. Larson 102-110.
Ronald Fleshman and John Davison
Ron Fleshman and John Davison are Editors at ris-news.com