Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Toyota/Save Mart 350

  • McDowell continues quiet consistency with third place finish at Sonoma

    McDowell continues quiet consistency with third place finish at Sonoma

    Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway was a career day for Front Row Motorsports Michael McDowell, but looking at the 2022 season, it seems par for the course given his performance.

    Starting fourth, the No. 34 Ford Mustang stayed at the front all race long, and in the end, finished third to eventual winner Daniel Suarez and fellow Ford driver, Chris Buescher. This normally wouldn’t be a surprise given that road courses are one of McDowell’s strong suits. But the 2022 season is almost halfway over and McDowell has already set a career-high in laps led in a season and top-10s in a season (six after Sonoma).

    What sticks out about that statistic is that he’s had top-10s on varying types of tracks. He finished seventh in the season-opening Daytona 500 and lingered mid-pack for the next seven races. But in the season’s eighth race at Bristol Dirt, he finished a stout ninth and followed it up with an eighth-place run at Talladega, a track he’s run well at in the past.

    Two weeks later he then finished seventh at Darlington for his third top-10 finish in four races and met that with an eighth-place finish at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600. At Gateway he set a personal best for most laps led in a season when he led 34 laps, setting his season total at 38. His 18th-place finish was indicative of how fast his car was. Then come Sonoma and McDowell had a chance to shine as a road racer and he came within shouting distance of his second career win.

    It helps that he’s kept his car mostly out of trouble this season, as his lone DNF came at Fontana in the second race of the season due to an electrical issue. Otherwise, he hasn’t overdriven his equipment and has kept quiet behind the wheel. But despite not having the resources that most of the bigger teams have, McDowell has credited their momentum to learning the new Gen-7 car as well as his rapport with crew chief Blake Harris.

    “I felt like this Next Gen car was going to level the playing field and give us more opportunities to show the level of team and program that we are, and I’m feeling like we’re getting an opportunity to do that now,” McDowell said. “I think we’re getting close to having the speed and if we can continue that, there’s going to be a weekend where we hit everything right and we have an opportunity to win a race.”

    McDowell and the Front Row Motorsports crew are riding a hot streak of momentum heading into Nashville, where he finished 16th in 2021. He holds three Xfinity Series starts and two ARCA starts at the speedway, so he’s no stranger to the track. But given his performance across the various speedway types this season, there’s no reason to believe that the No. 34 crew can’t put out another strong performance in 2022.

  • Martin Truex Jr. Drives to Victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma

    Martin Truex Jr. Drives to Victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma

    Martin Truex Jr. gambled with risky pit strategy to win over a hard-charging Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer by 10.513 seconds. He earned his 18th career victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

    Truex earned his third career top spot honors at road courses, which puts him second among active drivers (Kyle Busch has four wins). This was his second consecutive road course win and second career win at Sonoma.

    If stage cautions did not count, this race would have had the fewest caution flags with only one yellow flag for an on-track incident when the No. 47 car of A.J. Allmendinger stalled at the top of Turn 2. This caused the majority of the race, especially throughout the final stage, to focus primarily on pit strategy. Harvick and Bowyer started to charge through the field with fresher tires but ran out of laps and time to battle for the lead.

    “I really feel like I treat everyone the same as I did that day,” Truex said after reflecting back on his 2013 win in Sonoma with Michael Waltrip Racing.

    “Our guys understand what it takes, what kind of cars we need to build and what kind of approach we need to take to be prepared,” he continued, talking about his team’s performance. “It’s a little stressful when you’re in those situations because you never know what’s going to happen, but it all worked out, and pretty cool to get the win here today after last year. We thought a lot about that race last year, losing it, and it hurt. We left here and thought about it for a long time. To be able to come here and get it back was nice.

    “I was just hoping for no cautions because we had a big lead. It’s funny when you get in those situations, this place is so tricky and so technical. But I still ran as hard as I thought I needed to.”

    Cole Pearn, crew chief of the No. 78 5-Hour Energy Toyota, reacted to the growing bond of his team with Truex.

    “Yeah, a caution could have came out and we would’ve been snookered the other way,” Pearn said as he chuckled about their situation. “We got a good relationship and we get along real well. When it comes to these races to call strategy, you call what you can at the time.”

    Harvick led a total of 35 laps and came close to becoming the second Cup driver to win consecutive races at Sonoma. Jeff Gordon accomplished this feat with three consecutive wins in 1998-2000.

    “I think everyone did a good job. Truex just had a better car,” Harvick said after finishing in the runner-up position. “At the beginning of the race, we could outrun him just a little bit. In the second stage, we started to struggle with the brakes on our car. Just a few things added up that didn’t work out for us today.”

    Bowyer almost won back to back races after his victory at the rain-shortened event in Michigan but ended in the third position.

    “We never got a restart to put on a show, so that was unfortunate,” Clint said after an impressive charge from his 19th place starting position. “You work your ass off and it’s hard to showcase that. Especially when you’re racing up there against my teammate Kevin and Martin. You don’t see mistakes out of those guys.”

    Chase Elliott earned his first career top-five finish at a road course with a fourth-place effort. Kyle Busch finished in the fifth position. Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Stage 2 winner Denny Hamlin completed the top 10.

    Stage 1 at Sonoma Raceway

    Kyle Larson started on the pole and led the opening two laps. Heading up to Turn 2, Martin Truex Jr. got by to lead the majority of the first stage. Toward the closing laps of the first stage, roughly 15 drivers came to pit road for service early. Frontrunners, Truex and Kevin Harvick, were two that elected to come to pit road. A.J. Allmendinger inherited the lead and led the final four laps of the first stage.

    A.J. Allmendinger earned his first stage win at Sonoma by electing to stay out as many leaders headed to pit road before it closed. That strategy will get them to the front of the pack as everyone else who stayed out must come to pit road for tires and fuel. However, he shared with the media his thoughts about his competition.

    “We have a good short run car, but we need more to get ahead of [Kevin] Harvick and [Martin] Truex,” said Allmendinger.

    Kasey Kahne and Gray Gaulding were caught speeding on pit road and had to restart the second stage at the end of the field. Only one car was off the lead lap and was the free pass for this first caution, the No. 52 of Cody Ware.

    Turn of Events for Stage 2

    As the green flag flew, the field went racing for only a few laps. Coming out of Turn 11, Allmendinger shifted from second to first, missing third gear and, as a result, lost the motor. Over the radio, all you could hear was a shaky voice.

    “Guys, that was me.”

    Allmendinger is one of few drivers who can look at Sonoma and Watkins Glen International as his best shots to qualify for the Playoffs. The No. 47 team had a short day and now sets its sights on the second road course on the schedule.

    Jamie McMurray, after finishing both practice sessions and qualifying in the fourth position, mentioned over the radio during the caution that he hit the rev limiter and suddenly lost power and oil pressure. He went behind the wall as the Chip Ganassi Racing crew went to work on his Chevrolet.

    With six laps to go in the second stage, Darrell Wallace Jr. tried to make a pass on Justin Marks but locked up the rear tires and lost control, spinning through Turn 11. No caution flag was waved as he was able to continue racing.

    Similar to the first stage, some drivers began making their way to pit road during the closing laps. In the end, Denny Hamlin took over the race lead and won the second stage ahead of Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.

    Nerves Build During Final Stage

    When pit stops cycled through, Harvick and Truex took over the lead once again. Bowyer fought his way up to third, followed by brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch. Drivers started going off track more often when getting more aggressive, such as Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney. Blaney eventually started smoking, and shortly after, reported to his team that he lost power steering.

    Cody Ware took his No. 52 Chevrolet behind the wall. Cole Whitt in the No. 72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet hit the wall while racing on the track, and dropped out of the race due to the heavy damage from the incident, but no caution was thrown for the crash as he was able to drive safely to pit road. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

    All the drivers began to exercise their pit strategies. The entire field pitted on separate laps ranging from Lap 65 to 80. About a fourth of the field rolled the dice with planning for one pit stop during the final stage, while the rest of the field prepared for two stops during this stage. At one point after the last pit stop cycle, Truex grabbed the race lead by over a 30-second gap. Truex led the last 19 laps to seal the victory for his team.

    “The last 10 laps of the race were easy,” Truex joked in the press interviews after the race.

    Five Cup Series drivers raced in yesterday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race. Alex Bowman, who lost a motor after 10 laps in yesterday’s race, finished in the ninth position this afternoon. Aric Almirola, William Byron and Daniel Suarez all finished in the top five, but Erik Jones topped the double-duty drivers in today’s race with a seventh-place finish.

    The next race on the schedule for the Cup Series is at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Sonoma-MENCS-unofficial-race-results-6-24-18.pdf” title=”Sonoma MENCS unofficial race results 6-24-18″]

     

  • Dominant Truex Drive Defeated by Engine Failure

    Dominant Truex Drive Defeated by Engine Failure

    A great day for Martin Truex Jr. ended behind the wall in the closing laps of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

    Starting the day in third, Truex worked his way to the race lead by out-braking Kyle Larson going into Turn 11 on Lap 10. He briefly lost the lead opting to pit under the Lap 14 caution that flew for a spin in Turn 11 but took it back from AJ Allmendinger on Lap 22 to win the first stage (his 11th of the season).

    Truex led the first 13 laps of the second stage before pitting under the lap 38 caution, which flew for debris and finished outside the top-10 in the stage.

    He found his way back to the front with 43 laps to go, out-braking Kevin Harvick entering Turn 11, only to pit from the lead three laps later and exit behind Harvick, who pitted the lap prior, due to a slow stop.

    Shortly thereafter, Truex reported that he was down a cylinder. The issue briefly subsided and he picked up his pace. With 24 to go, however, he made an unscheduled pit stop, then took his car to the garage because the engine expired.

    He said afterward that he “was on seven cylinders” for roughly “about 20 laps.”

    “It’s very disappointing, I mean, sitting there running second on seven cylinders and staying right with the leader,” Truex said. “I mean this Toyota was so good today. Everyone at Furniture Row Racing did an awesome job with it. Everybody back in Denver, thank you for just crazy fast cars. TRD (Toyota Racing Development) stuff has been really good for the past year and a half. You know sometimes these things happen, so appreciate all their effort out there at TRD. Makes good power. It’s just this one wasn’t ready to go the whole distance today.”

    Truex leaves Sonoma trailing Larson by 13 points.

  • Harvick Captures First Win of Season at Sonoma

    Harvick Captures First Win of Season at Sonoma

    Kevin Harvick played the pit strategy game correctly and made a pass for the lead in the closing laps to win for the first time in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

    Shortly after losing the lead to Martin Truex Jr. with 43 laps to go, Harvick hit pit road to make his final stop of the race. Combined with a slow stop from race leader Truex two laps later, Harvick cycled ahead of Truex in the running order, putting him behind race leader Brad Keselowski.

    With 22 to go, Harvick out-braked him going into Turn 7a and drove on to score the victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

    “I am so excited,” Harvick said. “I think as you look at it, getting our first win with Ford, this has been a great journey for us as an organization and team. Kurt winning the Daytona 500 and we have run well. Everybody from Bush, Jimmy John’s and Mobil 1, Outback, Hunt Brothers and everybody. It is a great day. It finally all came together and we were able to not have any cautions there at the end. Rodney had great strategy and I was able to take care of the car and get out front. I felt like the 78 was the car we had to race and then he had problems and from there we were in control.”

    It’s his 36th career victory in 590 starts and first at Sonoma Raceway.

    “It means a ton to finally check this one off the list,” Harvick added. “I feel like we have been close a couple times but never put it all together. Being so close to home and having raced here so much, this was one that was on the top of the list and today we were able to check that box.”

    Teammate Clint Bowyer brought his car home second, while Keselowski rounded out the podium in third.

    “You get there back in traffic and you’re so much faster than them you have to check up to save a mistake,” Bowyer said. “You run over them and you don’t mean to; you get frustrated and get a little bit farther behind and a little bit farther behind. I saw the 42 check up and I get into him and I was thinking, ‘Well, we’ll both survive this’. And then all of a sudden the 47 was coming through him and I smoked him and hurt the left front. We were fast all weekend. With clean air and a long run, that’s always my strong suit. We got the long run, we just hard to start dead last to get it.”

    “The Freightliner Ford was really good today,” Keselowski said. “We didn’t have the qualifying fun we wanted. We had amazing race pace. That’s a credit to everyone at Team Penske. It felt really good. I just wish I could run this race again I think I might have had better car than driver today and I learned a lot. Just an amazing fun day.”

    Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10.

    Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag at 3:22 p.m. He held it for the first nine laps before Truex out-braked him going into Turn 11 to take the lead on Lap 10. A caution halfway through the stage shuffled the pit strategies, as is typical with a road course race, resulting in Chris Buescher, who elected not to pit, taking the lead under the caution. Teammate AJ Allmendinger took it from him exiting Turn 10 on Lap 19 and lost it to Truex in Turn 11 on Lap 22, who drove on to win the first stage.

    Truex retained the lead until he pitted under the Lap 38 caution, which went to Jimmie Johnson, who drove on to win the second stage.

    Denny Hamlin restarted the race with 56 to go as the race leader, having opted not to pit under the second stage caution. Kyle Busch took it from him going into Turn 11 with 47 to go and let Harvick power by him for the lead on the frontstretch two laps later. Truex returned to the front with 43 to go, out-braking Harvick going into Turn 11.

    A cycle of green flag stops occurred with 42 to go, with Truex pitting and exiting behind Harvick, setting up the run to the finish.

    Earnhardt brought out the first caution on lap 14 when he wheel-hopped, got loose going into Turn 11 and spun out. On the lap 30 restart, Earnhardt, Ryan Blaney and Danica Patrick ran three-wide going through Turn 4a, resulting in Patrick spinning out and getting t-boned by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. On the final lap, Kasey Kahne slammed the outside barrier on the frontstretch.

    The race lasted two hours, 46 minutes and 52 seconds at an average speed of 78.710 mph. There were 13 lead changes among 10 different drivers and six cautions for 12 laps.

    Larson leaves with a 13-point lead over Truex.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/C1716_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Larson Takes Pole Position at Sonoma

    Larson Takes Pole Position at Sonoma

    Despite a botched entry into the final turn, Kyle Larson won the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 after posting the fastest time in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Sonoma Raceway.

    His No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet carried a tad too much speed and about lost the car from behind going into Turn 11, but got an excellent drive off to stay in the green and post a time of 1:15.177 and a speed of 95.295 mph.

    Larson said afterward that his entire lap “actually felt pretty bad.”

    “I messed up into (Turn) 1 and into (Turn) 2 and was out a little bit too far,” he said. “Yeah, I felt like I gave up enough there that I wouldn’t have a shot at the pole. I thought maybe I’d maintain and run about the same lap time as the previous run. So, I was surprised and I was happy about that. This is cool to get a pole on a road course at my home state. This is my closest track to Sacramento or Elk Grove where I grew up. I have lots of friends and family here. We’re going to celebrate with the team. The Target Chevy was good. And then we’re going to head out to Calistoga and go watch some Sprint Car racing. So, I’m excited about that.”

    It’s his fourth pole in 127 career starts, third of the season and his second consecutive pole.

    Teammate Jamie McMurray will start his No. 1 Ganassi Chevrolet second after posting a time of 1:15.249 and a speed of 95.204 mph.

    “I have been on the pole here three times and haven’t been able to win the race. So, I’m not as worried with qualifying as excited as I am for how good our car was in race trim,” McMurray said. “We did two or three long runs and the car had good initial speed and I didn’t think it fell off as much as some of the other cars did. The No. 78 looked really fast, but I thought overall our car was one of the best in race trim. So, the fact that we have a good starting spot at the beginning is going to be big. The stages are going to be interesting to see how that affects the race or if it does. But, yeah, got a good car and just ready for tomorrow.”

    Martin Truex Jr. will start his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota third after posting a time of 1:15.453 and a speed of 94.947 mph. Kyle Busch will start his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota fourth after posting a time of 1:15.459 and a speed of 94.939 mph. AJ Allmendinger will round out the top-five starters in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:15.553 and a speed of 94.821 mph.

    Danica Patrick, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher and Dale Earnhardt Jr. round out the top-10.

    Daniel Suarez and Kevin Harvick round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    No drivers were sent home for failing to make the race.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/C1716_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Earnhardt Retirement Gift Tour Kicks Off at Sonoma

    Earnhardt Retirement Gift Tour Kicks Off at Sonoma

    With the 2017 season nearing the halfway mark and Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring at the end of it, the retirement gifts for NASCAR’s favorite driver will come with greater frequency if past history is any indicator.

    In the last two years, a new tradition has formed — in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series — that when a well-known driver begins his final season, he must be showered with gifts and honors from almost every track on the circuit. Even if the driver asks not to be showered with gifts, in the case of Jeff Gordon, or even flat our says he won’t take part in coming to the deadline room week after week to talk about what it’s like to race his last race at *insert track,* as was the case with Tony Stewart, he finally caves in and takes part in a great (Gordon) or small (Stewart) degree.

    Having only announced his retirement the day after a wreck resulted in a 38th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in April, eight races into the season, Earnhardt had avoided this. That all changed today at Sonoma Raceway.

    When he arrived to meet with the media corp in the deadline room, Sonoma Raceway General Manager Steve Page announced that, along with a commemorative giant bottle of red wine, he’d had three service dog puppies, who’d live their lives in Sonoma County, California serving children with disabilities, named after him and wife Amy.

    “Yeah, this is really, obviously we all heard the story and I think it’s a great thing that the track did,” Earnhardt said. “Amy is going to love this idea and she is going to be a little sad she wasn’t here to see the dogs today, but it’s nice to know that these types of things are happening and you guys are making a difference in people’s lives. We really appreciate that and obviously, thank the track for their investment to make this happen. It warms my heart. We do love dogs and love making a difference in kids’ lives and this is a twofer. Pretty neat deal. Just thanks a lot. Excited to maybe come back and see how the dogs are doing. Be a lot of fun to do that. We aren’t disappearing we will be back to see you guys again, so thank you.

    “I love the idea that we… I can’t really say we, but the race track is going to do something that makes a difference for someone else,” he added. “Our whole idea on finishing up the season is to try to show our appreciation. And sort of express that to our fans and everyone in the industry on making this an incredibly enjoyable ride. This fits right into that. It’s awesome that we are going to be able or they are going to be able to help somebody and help some kids. These dogs are going to have wonderful lives and they are going to enjoy doing that as well. The dogs will enjoy making a difference in someone’s life. That’s pretty cool.”

  • Larson Fastest in Sonoma Final Practice

    Larson Fastest in Sonoma Final Practice

    Kyle Larson topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 1:15.899 and a speed of 94.389 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:15.935 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.017 and a speed of 94.242 mph. AJ Allmendinger was fourth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.034 and a speed of 94.221 mph. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five in his No. 1 Ganassi Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.199 and a speed of 94.017 mph.

    Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top-10.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 91.817 mph.

    With less than 15 minutes remaining in the session, Chase Elliott got loose in Turn 10, spun and hit the outside wall. The damage forced him to roll out his backup car. In the opening minutes, Erik Jones spun out in Turn 11 and hit the tire barrier, forcing him to roll out his backup car.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/C1716_PRACFINAL.pdf”]

  • Truex Fastest in First Practice at Sonoma

    Truex Fastest in First Practice at Sonoma

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing was the fastest with a time of 1:15.740 and a speed of 94.587 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:16.158 and a speed of 94.068 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 1:16.470 and a speed of 93.684 mph. Clint Bowyer was fourth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 1:16.534 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.609 and a speed of 93.154 mph.

    Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano rounded out the top-10.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 91.852 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/C1716_PRAC1.pdf”]

  • Smoke Beats and Bangs his Way Back to Victory Lane

    Smoke Beats and Bangs his Way Back to Victory Lane

    After about losing the race running wide in turn 7a on the final lap, Tony Stewart capitalized on Denny Hamlin locking up in Turn 11, made contact with him, hit the wall and scored the victory at Sonoma.

    The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet snapped an 84-race winless streak as he won the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

    When asked if this win is significant because of its timing, he said “They’re all good; it doesn’t matter where you get them. But, we ran close to those guys all day. We just got stuck back in traffic. It’s pretty ironic the last one we got was in a Code 3 car and I’m proud to do it again. I’m proud of Mobil 1 and Bass Pro and everybody. It’s just an awesome job.”

    It’s his 49th career win in 598 Sprint Cup Series starts, first of 2016, first since Dover in June of 2013, third at Sonoma Raceway and first since 2005.

    He currently sits 32nd in points nine points back of the Chase cutoff.

    Hamlin brought his wounded No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota home to a runner-up finish.

    “Tony was doing a good job maintaining his tires, a good job of running consistent laps there,” Hamlin said. “Really he gave me an opportunity to get close. On the second to last lap, he wheel-hopped into (turn) seven, allowed us to get close and I just did a poor job of getting through 11. I was expecting to really drive in deep and I really thought that was going to happen and he did, but I also left the bottom open and that was a bad mistake on my part.”

    It’s his seventh top-10 finish of the season and third in 11 races at Sonoma. He earned the bonus point for leading the most laps at 33. Joey Logano rounded out the podium in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    “We had a hard-fought third-place finish today, which is no easy finish here at Sonoma at any point,” Logano said.

    It’s his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Sonoma.

    Carl Edwards led 24 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    “We had a really fast Stanley Toyota, this was the most fun I’ve had in a long time, really good car,” Edwards said. “It was fun to race. Congrats to Tony, I know he drove his heart out there. It’s pretty neat to see him in victory lane. We just had some fun today, it was a good time.”

    After losing second to Hamlin going into turn 7a with 12 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

    “We just burned it up at the end trying to get Smoke (Tony Stewart) and I gave up a couple spots, but I had to try to go for it,” Truex said of the closing laps. “The rear tires were gone at the end. It was a good race and congrats to Tony, it’s good to see and it’s been a long time coming for him.”

    Kevin Harvick led three laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Kyle Busch led two laps on his way to a seventh-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Ryan Newman finished eighth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne finished ninth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet.

    Despite leading 20 laps and being a front-runner for most of the afternoon, an uncontrolled tire penalty relegated AJ Allmendinger to the tail-end of the longest line during the fourth caution of the race and he finished 14th. Paul Menard, who led three laps, finished 16th. Danica Patrick, who led three laps, finished 19th.

    Thirty-five cars finished on the lead lap and 37 finished the race. Josh Wise exited the race with 14 laps remaining due to engine failure. Michael McDowell left the race with 18 laps to go for rear gear failure and Clint Bowyer exited the race on lap seven for an electrical fire in the dashboard of his car.

    The race lasted two hours, 42 minutes and 13 seconds at an average speed of 80.966 mph. There were 12 lead changes among eight different drivers and four cautions for 10 laps.

    Harvick leaves with a 35-point lead over Kurt Busch in the points standings.

    The next race for the Sprint Cup Series is the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway this Saturday night.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/C1616_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Edwards Takes the Pole in Sonoma

    Edwards Takes the Pole in Sonoma

    Carl Edwards will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow afternoon after claiming pole position in wine country.

    The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 after posting a time of 1:14.799 and a speed of 95.777 mph.

    “That was good,” Edwards said of his pole lap. “My first lap was amazing, the car was really good and then I wasn’t sure about the second lap. It was good enough and that tells you how good the car is. I just can’t say enough about Stanley and all the things they’re doing for us. We had a dinner last night for us and this will be really exciting for them to have their Stanley Toyota up on the pole for the start of the race and hopefully we can stay there and get another win.”

    It’s his 19th career pole in 425 Sprint Cup Series starts, the third pole of 2016 and his first at Sonoma Raceway.

    AJ Allmendinger will start second in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:14.878 and a speed of 95.676 mph while Martin Truex Jr. will start third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after posting a time of 1:14.881 and a speed of 95.672 mph.

    “Honestly, for where we were yesterday; it was a struggle yesterday,” Allmendinger said. “We just never could really find the direction of the car. All my guys did a great job to get to work and get this Kroger/Kingsford Chevy closer to the front. When I saw Carl first lap, I kind of said I don’t care what kind of lap I run. If he runs that again, I’m not going to get close. And then I saw it was less than a tenth. I always nitpick, but it was a big gain from where we were yesterday. We’ve still got to go to work and we’ve still got to figure out what we need for race trim, but a good start at least.”

    “I thought we had it, thought we had a shot at it – I know we had a shot at it obviously being second in the first round,” Truex said of his qualifying run. “Knew a few spots on the track I could do a better job driving. Made a few adjustments on the car and felt like I could make up some time. Really had it all put together going into turn 11 and just missed it by six inches down there and got it a little bit tight and had to wait on the gas. If you don’t get off that corner, you lose a lot of time coming to the start-finish line…All in all, it was my best qualifying effort here and this is typically a place we race well, just don’t qualify well so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

    Kurt Busch will start fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:14.895 and a speed of 95.654 mph followed by Kyle Larson who will round out the top-five starters in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:15.124 and a speed of 95.362 mph.

    Denny Hamlin will start sixth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota and Joey Logano will start seventh in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    Logano said afterwards that his run was “better than where we were last year. We were 17thor 18th last year, so we’ve improved. I thought I had a shot after the first round, but lost some grip the second round and tried harder at the same time and all of that just didn’t work out. It’s unfortunate that we lost a little bit from the first round to the second round, but we’re still in good shape. I still think we have a top-five car and we proved that today in qualifying. We were really close to that, so now we’ll just work our way through it and see where we end up. At this race you never know what’s gonna happen. It’s about strategy and the fastest car doesn’t always win. A lot of times if you have a top-5 car you can figure out ways to win and I feel like we have that, so it’s just all about executing the race strategy and getting through the race by keeping your cool and doing all of that right.”

    Kyle Busch will start eighth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota, Paul Menard will start ninth in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet as Tony Stewart rounds out the top-10 starters in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet.

    Danica Patrick will start 11th in her No. 10 SHR Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    Among the cars that didn’t advance out of the first round included all four cars of Hendrick Motorsports.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was fastest in final practice the day before, said his team “just didn’t see what everybody had yesterday. We ran the same times as we did yesterday. The car drove the same. There were just some guys out there that were faster and they just never really made a mock run or showed that speed yesterday. We do have a good race car as far as race trim speed against everybody else. I still feel like this is the best car I’ve had at this race track. The car drove good. I made a couple of mistakes that cost me enough time to get into the next round. But, I make a mistake every lap I run here and that’s just the way it’s going to be. The guys have done a good job of giving me a good race car to cover me every once in a while and I’m pretty excited about tomorrow. I didn’t think we’d get the pole. I know everybody was excited. All the fans were excited about how we ran yesterday. But, I knew there were some guys that just get around this place no matter what car they’re in. They’re fast and when it came to pole day they were going to show up and they did.”

    Cody Ware is the lone DNQ for this weekend.

    Dylan Lupton will make his first career Sprint Cup Series start tomorrow driving the No. 93 Toyota for BK Racing.

    Twenty Chevrolets, 11 Fords and nine Toyotas will comprise the 40-car field for tomorrow’s race.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/C1616_STARTROW.pdf”]