Martin Truex Jr., the driver of the #78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota, crosses the finish line to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 24, 2018, in Sonoma, California. Photo – Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
After the break, the Cup Series headed out west to race at the road course of Sonoma Raceway. It’s a well-deserved switch up halfway through the season for drivers to get a taste for a different style of racing. The hills and curves of this track definitely challenge the drivers, as a course difficult to manage.
Kyle Larson took the pole position with Martin Truex Jr. sharing the front row with him. Larson led the first couple of laps, but Truex did not let him have the spotlight for long as he took the lead and got real comfortable. Larson could not gain much momentum after he fell off his pedestal early in the race.
AJ Allmendinger always has a strong outing at Sonoma as he excels at road course venues. Truex held on to the lead for the rest of the stage until a strategy play late in the stage. He came in with two laps left in the stage for a full pit stop allowing Allmendinger to take over the lead and win the first stage.
After the first stage pit stop, Truex Jr. took his lead back to start the second stage. The green flag racing was not run for very long before Allmendinger blew his engine and had to withdrawal from the race. Tough break for Allmendinger because he had a strong car up to that point. The racers ran green long enough to cycle back through green flag pit stops when Denny Hamlin gained the lead and raced with it for the rest of the stage. He picked the win for the second stage.
The final stage of the race belonged to Truex Jr. He came out of the restart hot and ran away from the field. His lead increased to 25 seconds after the last green flag cycle. This allowed him to race on old tires and not be affected by it too much. His lead was large enough to leave him at the front. Kevin Harvick was chasing him down but ran out of time. Truex was able to hold his lead and win his third race of the year.
Truex Jr. showed everyone up today in Sonoma. He definitely knew the fastest line around the track and had the best car. After Truex Jr. took the lead, it was fair to assume where he would be for the rest of the race. Truex got lucky for having no caution come out late in the race. This could have ruined his chances of capturing this win because he was on older tires later in the race. Harvick was decreasing his lead lap by lap and ran out of time. If the caution came out, Truex would have had to stop for tires, or Harvick would have run away from the field. Luckily for Truex, the race fell right into his lap.
The upcoming races are an opportunity for a different driver to get a win for the season. Chicagoland next weekend, and Daytona the following weekend. Chicagoland is usually a race that is held to open up the racing playoffs, but it got switched to an earlier date this year. Daytona, as we know, is a wild card race and anyone can win there. It will be a fun race to catch in two weeks. Teams will understand going into that race that this could be the chance to steal a win. The Cup standings could switch up a bit in these next few weeks, and it will be fun to see which drivers will benefit, and which drivers will continue to struggle.