Toyota/Save Mart 350: Martin Truex dominates in wine country

After leading a race high of 51 laps, Martin Truex Jr. walks away with his 4th win at Sonoma Raceway. 

JGR’s Denny Hamlin started in the top spot for his first career pole in Sonoma Valley. At the drop of the green Hamlin got ahead of Reddick in the #45 and his JGR teammate Christopher Bell. By the end of the first lap, Toyota cars occupied the first 5 positions on the racetrack. 

On lap 17 the pitstop cycle began as Brad Keselowski brought his RFK #6 down pit road. 6 laps later, Hendrick duo Elliott and Larson would pit to try and jump the leaders, who stayed out for stage points. 

Hamlin ran away and scored the stage 1 victory.

Stage One Results:

1. #11
2. #19
3. #20
4. #16
5. #34
6. #45
7. #17
8. #54
9. #48
10.  #47

One lap after the stage end, all the front runners would come down into pit lane. Hamlin and Truex would manage to hold station but Elliott jumped to 3rd spot and Larson jumped to 5th. 

On lap 33, Truex would set up Hamlin in turn 11 before wrestling the lead away from his JGR teammate in the run up the hill at turn 2. Truex would become only the second driver to lead laps in this race. By lap 43, the #19 would have a 10 second lead over his 3rd place teammate Christopher Bell in the #20. 

On lap 49 the first caution of the race would be thrown for a tire sitting in the middle of pit road from the #38 of Zane Smith. The front runners would once again come down pit road, handing the lead to the #8. Truex would be sent from the top spot down to 10th. 

At the lap 54 restart, Busch would get ahead from the jump at the green, leaving Logano to fight with Byron and Chastain for the second spot. Busch would be the first non-Toyota to lead laps all day. The #8 would cruise to victory in the second stage.

Stage Two Results:

1. #8
2. #22
3. #1
4. #24
5. #47
6. #3
7. #19
8. #34
9. #20
10.  #4

On lap 63, Truex would work his way around the #22 of Logano for 2nd place and began to set his sites on the #8 of Busch in the lead. 

A lap later, the #54 would make contact with Busch’s teammate Austin Dillon, sending him around in turn 11. Dillon got the car refired and continued on his way, no caution. 

With 42 to go, Truex had caught his former teammate in the #8 car, and was looking for a way past him. Going into turn 7, Truex worked his way past the Chevy driver and reclaimed the lead for the first time in the third stage. 

The pit window would open up with 38 to go, and the race leading #19 would stop with 35 to go. Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick would stay out until 31 to go, where Truex would assume the lead from the #45 of Reddick as the others came down pit lane. 

Once out front, Truex began to gap second place runner Kyle Busch.

The race’s second caution would come with 19 to go. The #11 of Hamlin, who was running 10th, would hit the inside wall coming out of turn 12 bouncing him into the outside wall, causing a toe link to break and resulting in a spun and further collision with the wall. Under the caution flag, the majority of the front runners would pit, while Elliott, Reddick and Blaney would stay out. 

With 15 to go, Chase Elliott tried to run and hide on the restart, while Truex drove his way through from 4th to 2nd by the end of the lap. Busch would follow the #19 and make a break for 3rd. The lap later, Truex would reclaim the lead in turn 7, with Busch passing Elliott later in the lap. In turn 11, Reddick suffered a flat tire and drove around turn 12 back to the pit entrance at turn 11, avoiding a caution but resulting in a pass-through penalty for the #45. 

Busch would set after Truex in the #19, trying to find some way around the Gibbs driver but the #19 would start to gap the Childress car as the race wound into its final stages. However, Busch was still right there in case Truex made a mistake.

Unfortunately for Busch, the mistake would not come. Martin Truex Jr. scored his 2nd win of the 2023 season and his 4th victory in wine country. With this win, Truex takes the regular season points lead from Ryan Blaney. 

Busch would come in the runners-up spot, just short of his 4th win for RCR. However, the Nevada native walked away from the raceway with a stage win and 17 laps led. 

Logano in the #22 would finish in 3rd, Buescher in the #17 would take 4th, moving him up to 11th in points and Chase Elliott would take 5th in his first road course of the year. 

Featured Image Credits: Patrick Vallely