Here’s to another week of fuel disaster for one driver and a successful repave for all!
The Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway had two completely different tones. The first two stages were messy, with a total of eight cautions. When the race reached the third stage, everything was smooth sailing, leaving the teams to pick up the pieces of their shattered strategies.
While we watched these crew chiefs scramble to get their drivers back on track, an exciting battle for the win started to unfold before our very eyes. With a freshly paved track, tire strategy would not come into play nearly as much as in the past at Sonoma. However, with Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr. on older tires, they began slipping into the grasp of Kyle Larson’s HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. With each driver making a mistake on different laps and the No. 19 out of fuel, that left the hometown hero of Larson to drive the No. 5 to victory lane.
Truex’s disappointing end to the day was a summary of the race his organization had. From the drop of the checkered flag to the Bass Pro Shops Camry slowly rolling its way past the start/finish line, Joe Gibbs Racing saw their chances of winning fade left and right.
Join Taylor Kitchen on a new episode of Above The Yellow Line to highlight key moments of the race you might have missed!
