NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. wins at Sonoma for the fourth time
Martin Truex cruised to the fourth Sonoma win of his career Sunday over Kyle Busch.
Truex took the lead on lap 97 of the 110-lap race after a restart with 15 laps to go. Truex restarted fourth as the first driver with fresh tires and passed Chase Elliott for the lead not long after the restart.
Truex led a race-high 51 laps after starting eighth. He took the lead for the first time on lap 33 after Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and polesitter Denny Hamlin led the first 32 laps.
The win makes Truex the second-winningest driver at Sonoma behind Jeff Gordon. Truex entered Sunday’s race tied with Tony Stewart with three wins and is now alone behind Gordon's five Sonoma wins during his storied career.
The race was the first at Sonoma without cautions for stage breaks since the format was introduced in 2017. There were just two cautions Sunday and the first one was quite specious. After the first 48 laps of the race went green, NASCAR threw a caution for a tire in the middle of pit road after Zane Smith made a pit stop.
The pit road at Sonoma is separated from the track by a wall and the pit road speed is 40 mph. But NASCAR deemed it unsafe for someone to go retrieve the tire on an empty pit road without throwing a caution.
The race’s other caution came when Denny Hamlin had a problem on the front stretch on lap 91 to set up the final restart. It was unclear what happened to Hamlin’s car but it had a broken rear toe link.
Joey Logano finished third while Chris Buescher was fourth and Chase Elliott was fifth in his first race back after a one-race suspension for hooking Hamlin into the wall at the Coca-Cola 600.
Truex is a legitimate championship threat
Truex is searching for the second Cup Series title of his career after winning his maiden championship in 2017. He missed the playoffs in 2022 thanks to a winless regular season despite scoring the fourth-most points of any driver during the regular season.
It’s hard to see how he isn’t one of the favorites to win the 2023 title after Sunday’s race. Truex entered Sonoma fourth in the points standings and has matched the consistency he had a season ago with the wins he missed.
"This is why you go through years like we had last year," Truex said after climbing from his car. "You just keep fighting. You never give up on it. You always believe in each other.
"We haven't changed anything on our team other than parts and pieces. It's through a lot of hard work of a lot of people."
Truex is currently the co-No. 4 favorite to win the title at +800 behind Kyle Larson (+500), Busch (+600), William Byron (+700) and is tied with Hamlin (+800).
Race results
1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kyle Busch
3. Joey Logano
4. Chris Buescher
5. Chase Elliott
6. AJ Allmendinger
7. Michael McDowell
8. Kyle Larson
9. Christopher Bell
10. Ross Chastain
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13. Ryan Preece
14. William Byron
15. Alex Bowman
16. Brad Keselowski
17. Bubba Wallace
18. Ty Gibbs
19. Austin Dillon
20. Corey LaJoie
21. Justin Haley
22. Daniel Suarez
23. Ty Dillon
24. Todd Gilliland
25. Austin Cindric
26. Grant Enfinger
27. Harrison Burton
28. Aric Almirola
29. Chase Briscoe
30. Josh Bilicki
31. Ryan Blaney
32. Erik Jones
33. Tyler Reddick
34. Zane Smith
35. Andy Lally
36. Denny Hamlin
