SONOMA – The completely repaved track at Sonoma Raceway officially has Kyle Larson’s seal of approval.
Larson, on a fresher set of tires, passed both Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr. with eight laps to go and held on to capture a thrilling Toyota/Save Mart 350 at his home track on Sunday to earn his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season.
Larson, an Elk Grove native, passed Buescher after Turn 3 on lap 102 before quickly overtaking Truex after turn 4.
Larson was steady from there, earning his second career victory in Sonoma for Hendrick Motorsports. He also drank the wine in the winner’s circle in 2021, his first year with the longtime powerhouse organization.
“I’m very bad at (worn) out surfaces on road courses, so I was happy when I heard they were repaving Sonoma because I knew it would lend itself to somebody who’s not easy on tires,” Larson said. “So keep repaving road courses.”
Michael McDowell finished second, and Buescher, looking for his first road course victory, finished third.
Truex, a four-time winner in Sonoma, ran out of fuel on the final lap and finished 27th, with his car coasting across the finish line.
Larson led 19 of the 110 laps and steadily gained ground on fresher tires after his last pit stop. Truex spent several late laps and expended a lot of fuel trying to pass the leader, Buescher, but shortly after he did, Larson made his decisive move and jumped from third to first.
Larson said he was in attack mode all day.
“I felt like being on offense, I was just able to make fewer mistakes throughout the day,” he said. “I think people recognized that we were on offense, too, so they didn’t really race me too hard. My car was just really good in the brake zones because I was on fresher tires.”
The victory was Larson’s 20th since joining Hendrick in 2021, and it came less than a week after he received a waiver from NASCAR to keep alive his hopes of winning a second Cup championship.
Larson needed the waiver after his attempted “double” last month went awry due to poor weather in Indianapolis and Charlotte.
His start in the Indianapolis 500 was delayed for several hours because of rain. Then, after a flight to North Carolina for the Coca-Cola 600, he wasn’t able to turn a lap because that race was called due to poor weather. He needed a waiver to keep his title hopes alive because he didn’t complete a lap in the NASCAR race.
Larson tried to maintain his typical California chill throughout the ordeal, saying he had taken some time off earlier this week to relax in wine country.
“Are we still talking about waivers?” Larson asked after the race. “Literally, my mind never wavered. It was always focused on executing and winning the regular season points (title).”
Drivers who were curious to see how a repaved track and increased speeds at Sonoma would affect the overall race got their answer early on.
Thanks to seven yellow flags, 18 of the first 40 laps were run under caution as three drivers, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Dillon, were all knocked out of the race for various reasons. The day for Hamlin, who began Sunday as the Cup Series leader, ended after three laps with a blown engine. He remains in the lead with 531 points, 21 more than Larson.
“The gearing is a little weird for the track,” Hamlin said after his exit. “It’s a lot of high-end RPM stuff, but the same as everyone else. I’m just not really sure. They’ll look at it and figure it out, but certainly not ideal.”
A sizeable wreck took place on Lap 34. After he was nudged from behind, Josh Berry drove into traffic in the hairpin Turn 11, causing damage to at least seven cars.
The wall of concrete barriers around Turn 11 was a new feature at Sonoma Raceway to keep cars on the track. This left little room for drivers to out-brake their competition and pass on the inside. The walls also eliminated most of the visibility drivers once had around the turn.
“Our race was going OK,” said Berry, who finished 32nd. “But after the incident in (turn) 11, the car just kind of drove funny and, ultimately, we couldn’t make it to the end.”
This winter, the track was repaved entirely for the first time in over two decades, although it needed some repairs after parts of the asphalt came apart earlier this year. Some drivers said the course was smooth before Sunday, but there were still questions about how the track would hold up under the weight of heavy NASCAR traffic.
Still, the repaved track improved tire grip, leading to faster lap times in Friday’s practice session and Saturday’s qualifying. Joey Logano won the pole for Sunday’s race with a lap speed of 97.771 mph, more than five seconds faster than the lap run by Hamlin (92.178) last year to win the pole.
“It just feels good to get a win in the Cup series,” Larson said. “With it being at home, it feels even more special. I think we all enjoy coming out here because it’s kind of a vacation, so it’s always a cherry on top when you can finish the weekend off with a win.”