In the closing laps of Sunday’s Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, Martin Truex Jr. had to hold off a hard charging Kyle Busch for the win. Truex was able to do just that and he held on for his fourth victory of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. That ties Busch for the most on the season to this point.
Truex led a race high 59 laps in the 90 lap event, this first since 1997 on the longer configuration of Sonoma Raceway that includes the carousel. This is Truex’s 23rd-career Cup Series win, which moves him into a tie for 34th on the all-time win list with Ricky Rudd and Joey Logano. (View the full all-time Cup Series win list here)
Busch ended up second, Ryan Blaney was third, Matt DiBenedetto came home with impressive career-best finish of fourth and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five finishers.
Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer finished sixth through 10th.
William Byron led 21 laps and won Stage 1, but suffered through rough pit strategy to finish 18th. Hamlin won Stage 2.
This marks the 10th victory in 16 races for Joe Gibbs Racing, and two organizations (JGR and Team Penske) have combined to win 15 of the 16 Cup Series events so far in 2019.
Post-Race Stat Pack:
