Category: NASCAR

NASCAR Sonoma Raceway/Toyota SaveMart 350: Van Gisbergen proves untouchable in Sonoma

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Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 Red Bull Chevrolet, leads the field during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Van Gisbergen proves untouchable in Sonoma

By Tom Zulewski

SONOMA – About the only thing that fell short on the day for Shane Van Gisbergen came when his celebratory kick of a rugby ball only went as far as the edge of the back wall on pit road.

“I blame that one on the wind,” Van Gisbergen joked.

Other than that wind-blown flub, SVG delivered a dominating performance in his No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet and rolled to his third road-course win in the last five weeks, taking the checkered flag at the Toyota/SaveMart 350 on a warm, breezy afternoon July 13 at Sonoma Raceway.

After finishing second to teammate Connor Zilisch in the XFINITY Pit Boss/Food Maxx 250 on July 12, the New Zealander rebounded well enough to lead 97 of the 110 laps and was able to fend off a late challenge from runner-up Chase Briscoe, who started and finished second.

Even as Van Gisbergen had to deal with the closing stretch of three cautions over the final 11 laps, his pit crew led by crew chief Steven Doran wasn’t worried in the least.

“It’s pretty awesome they had that confidence because I certainly didn’t,” Van Gisbergen said. “You never know with NASCAR. On the restarts, everyone goes crazy.”

Van Gisbergen added on TNT’s post-race show, “We had a really fast car, but a really fast car doen’t always win the race.”

The first late caution came at lap 97 when a wheel fell off the 51 car of Cody Ware. It traveled a good distance down track, but didn’t hit any other cars as they drove by. Briscoe led briefly after the final caution came out at lap 105 when Ricky Stenhouse spun in Turn 8, but Van Gisbergen got to the front with little trouble on the final restart and won by 1.128 seconds.

“At the end of these races, a lot can happen,” Briscoe said. “It was a split decision if we should pit or not, but we stayed out and that could go a lot of different ways. I tried to do my best just to stay behind Shane, but even if I had gotten the lead, there was probably only a 10 percent chance I could hold on to it.”

Van Gisbergen short-pitted and finished second to Ross Chastain in Stage 1, but had to survive a bump-and-run fest from a hard-charging Kyle Larson before securing the Stage 2 win. For the first time during the weekend, a caution flag came out early in Stage 3 for an on-track incident..

Ryan Blaney slid off-track after making contact with Chris Buescher as they battled for the third position and the No. 12 Menards Chevrolet got stuck in the dirt to bring out the yellow at lap 62, 48 laps short of the finish.

From there, the green-flag pit stops put Van Gisbergen back in front, and he moved into a tie with Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell with three wins on the season.

After Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Bell completed the top five. There were six cautions that took up 17 laps, and the average winning speed was 75.087 mph. With six races left until the playoffs, William Byron leads Elliott by 14 points in the standings. Larson is 44 behind in third.

Among the non-winners who would fill out the playoff field, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace would advance. Wallace has only a three-point lead over Ryan Preece.

2024 Sonoma Raceway: Larson makes late charge, wins Toyota/SaveMart 350

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Kyle Larson drinks wine in victory lane to celebrate winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 9. Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

By Tom Zulewski

SONOMA, Calif. – With a new track surface in full effect, the NASCAR Cup drivers had more than enough challenges on their plates as the Toyota/SaveMart 350 began at Sonoma Raceway. When winning time came, Kyle Larson found a way to get the job done and grab another road-course race win.

Driving his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, Larson took the lead with nine laps to go and cruised to the victory at Sonoma on June 9, his second in the last four seasons.

The win was made possible when crew chief Cliff Daniels got the creative wheels turning as the laps clicked down. “We were completely off-script with the way we called the race, but that was fun,” Daniels said.

After the waiver to remain eligible to compete for his second Cup championship was granted by NASCAR less than 24 hours earlier, Larson had a pun for the gathered media. “My focus didn’t waiver. I’m trying to win races now.”

Call it superstition, call it fate, call it karma, but Larson gave a small chunk of credit to the sponsor on the hood of his No. 5 Chevy. “Every time we have Valvoline on the car, I feel like we’re really fast,” said Larson, who led twice for 19 laps on the day and had to pass a hard-charging Martin Truex Jr., who was searching for a record-tying fifth win at Sonoma. “When we said we had to go race and pass these guys, I got a bit nervous. …

Thankfully, we had enough grip and that Martin never got clear to where I could get stuck in third, and that really saved the race.” Truex ended up running out of gas less than 500 feet from the finish line, but managed to crawl the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota across and finish 27th, the last car on the lead lap, as the crowd chanted “go, go, go!”

Through Stage 2, there were eight cautions, tied for second-most all time (2005, 2021), one short of the record of nine set in 1990. When the final stage of 55 laps was run caution-free, it set the stage in motion for the chaos of the finish.

Michael McDowell didn’t lead a lap on the day, but had a car good enough to comfortably finish second, 4.258 seconds behind Larson. “Our race came unraveled when we had the accident (at lap 41) and had to come Chris Buescher had the best shot to hold on and grab his first road-course win, but couldn’t hold off Larson, who had 13 more laps on fresher tires, allowing him to take the lead for good with nine laps to go.

“We weren’t too nervous about the fuel,” said Buescher, who finished third. “It was a great strategy (to take tires when we did), and there were a lot of positives that came from it. Just didn’t have enough left to fight for the win. Buescher led 32 laps, all coming within Stage 3.

Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain completed the top five in the running order. Larson reclaimed the points lead by 14 over Elliott, and Denny Hamlin – who finished in last place (38th) at Sonoma for the second year in a row – fell two spots to third.

Tom Zuelweski covers Sonoma Raceway annually for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sonoma Raceway: Truex nails down fourth Sonoma win

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Martin Truex Jr. holds the trophy after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, June 11, 2023, in Sonoma, Calif. (AP News photo)

By Tom Zulewski

SONOMA – As good as Martin Truex Jr. has been at Sonoma Raceway, he didn’t win either of the first two stages on June 11. When it came down to winning the flag that mattered, Truex left no doubt how good he was.

Taking the lead away from Chase Elliott with 14 laps to go, Truex cruised to the checkered flag and won the Toyota/SaveMart 350 for the fourth time in his career. The driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing beat former teammate Kyle Busch by nearly three full seconds.

“We had some issues last year where we would show up at road courses and kind of outsmart ourselves,” said Truex, who led four times for a race-high 51 laps. ‘Reinvent the wheel, come up with some super-crazy trick setup because we knew our cars weren’t as good as the other manufacturers.”

After a 26th-place finish in last year’s Sonoma race, the offseason work on the road courses paid off in an impressive turnaround for Truex on Sunday.

“There’s a lot to this that’s really hard to explain,” he said. “Tons of work in the offseason on everything. Road courses and short tracks were a big focus for Toyota and JGR.”

As for racing and beating his former teammate, Truex gave Busch a full helping of respect.

“In 17 or 18 years, we’ve had maybe two run-ins where it was maybe ‘hey, I was stupid,’” Truex said. “We’ve had great races and finished 1-2 a lot of times. He’s great to race with and I’d race him any day of the week for a win.”

Busch led once for 17 laps and was able to take the lead from Truex after the first caution came out for an uncontrolled tire on pit road at lap 51, four laps before the end of Stage 2 in the 110-lap race. He held on to earn a playoff point ahead of Joey Logano, but In the final stage, Busch couldn’t catch Truex after the last restart.

Logano rallied after qualifying 17th to finish third.

“It’s a comeback from yesterday, for sure. We were awful,” Logano said. “I woke up this morning and thought a top-10 would feel pretty good. We were competitive, not the best car, but had good strategy and a little bit of luck.”

With his second win of the season and 33rd of his career, Truex moved into the points lead by 13 ahead of William Byron. Chris Buescher and Elliott completed the top five finishers.

Denny Hamlin qualified on the pole, led all of the first 32 laps and easily won Stage 1, but ran into trouble on lap 93 after a wreck near the starting line. He finished 36th.

The race had only two cautions for six laps, and the winner’s average speed was 81.989 mph around the 12-turn road course. The NASCAR Cup Series will be idle this week and return June 25 at Nashville Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sonoma 2022 Toyota/Save Mart 350 series: Suarez finds his groove, wins at Sonoma

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Nothing fine but the wine and a win at the NASCAR Sonoma Toyota/Save Mart 350 series as race car driver Daniel Suarez enjoys a post race beverage at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma on Sun Jun 12, 2022 (AP News photo)

Suarez finds his groove, wins at Sonoma

By Tom Zulewski

SONOMA – After 194 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series – including just two top-5 finishes in 2022 – Daniel Suarez was a driver in search of any good break he could find. When the third stage of the second road course race of the season was finished, Suarez earned his own slice of history.

Leading for 47 of the final 55 laps, Suarez won the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 12. The driver of the No. 99 Chievrolet for Trackhouse Racing earned hi s first Cup victory, became the second driver (Juan Pablo Montoya in 2007) to win his first race on a road course, and became just the fifth foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup race.

Suarez beat runner-up Chris Buescher – who returned to the No. 17 car after missing last week’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway due to COVID protocols – by nearly four full seconds.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Suarez said of his initial reaction to the moment after taking the checkered flag. “I’ve been working very hard for this moment not only for myself, but for my whole team. I’m very lucky to have great people around me.”

One of Suarez’ biggest supporters is his owner at Trackhouse Racing, Justin Marks. Marks had the utmost confidence that a breakthrough and celebration in Victory Lane would happen.

“Daniel checked a lot of boxes for us right away,” Marks said. “He’s an experienced Cup driver and he’s won when he’s been in position to win with his XFINITY championship (2016) and his truck wins. He’s had a chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove he belonged in the Cup series.”

When he took the lead from Buescher as Stage 3 began, Suarez was finally able to crush the chip and leave no doubt he belongs in NASCAR’s top series. The only time Suarez wasn’t at the front of the 36-car field came when Brad Keselowski led for a three-lap stretch from Lap 82 through 84.

A debris caution allowed Suarez to move back in front, and he stayed there over the final 26 laps to secure the win as his red-shirt supporters cheered loudly from the grandstands.

With teammate Ross Chastain already in the win column from the EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in March, the confidence had more than enough carryover for Suarez, who qualified 8th for the Toyota/SaveMart 350.

“We came here with a lot of road-course confidence,” Suarez said. “We didn’t have the best car today, but I felt like we made the right calls and the results showed that.”

Suarez gave additional credit to team engineer Jose Velasco, who wasn’t able to be at Sonoma due to illness.

“He called me crying,” Suarez said of Velasco, who was at home in Mexico City. “He’s a big part of this team.”

In the final stretch that gave Suarez the win, no words were necessary.

“”I just tried to stay calm,” he said. “I wanted to do my thing and didn’t want too much noise on the radio. I was controlling what I could control, and fi the caution came out, I was going to fight again.”

After Buescher, Michael McDowell finished third, while Kevin Harvick and Austin Cindric completed the top five. The race had four cautions for 14 laps, and the winning average speed was 78.008 mph.

The NASCAR Cup Series is off for Father’s Day and will return to racing June 26 at Nashville SuperSpeedway.

NASCAR Sonoma Raceway: Larson survives chaos, wins at Sonoma

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The wine is just fine at the Sonoma Raceway where Kyle Larson celebrates the NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Sonoma Sun Jun 6, 2021 (AP News photo)

Larson survives chaos, wins at Sonoma

By Tom Zulewski

SONOMA, Calif. — Kyle Larson had a car that was untouchable as it zoomed around the Sonoma Raceway road course June 6. Several late restarts gave his challengers slivers of hope they could catch and pass him for the win.

With additional energy from his hometown crowd, Larson pulled through and continued to build on an increasingly successful 2021 season.

Larson survived a two-lap shootout, swept all three stages and took the checkered flag to win the Toyota/SaveMart 350. The Hendrick Motorsports driver won for the second straight week, earned his third win of the season, and gave team owner Rick Hendrick the company’s 270th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series since 1984.

A native of nearby Elk Grove, Larson had his toughest competition from Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott, who led for 13 laps and finished second.

“Stretching out from Chase and slowing down helped me learn the track,” said Larson, who tied Martin Truex Jr. for most wins on the 2021 season. “The car was unbelievable, and now we have some wins to show for it.”

Cycling through pit stops pushed Larson back at times during the race, but it didn’t take long for the No. 5 car to make up the deficit, no matter who was up front among seven different drivers. Crew chief Cliff Daniels was surprised at how good the car was, especially during the three late-race restarts.

“I didn’t expect to see us make up ground that quick,” Daniels said. “Kyle nailed all three restarts perfectly.”

Larson’s win pulled him within 47 points of leader Denny Hamlin, who finished eighth at Sonoma.

“I’ve had a few good weeks, won stages, and took some huge chunks off the deficit,” Larson said. “Just keep gaining stage points, run up front and be smooth.”

Facing his teammate in Elliott, it clearly wasn’t easy for Larson to finish the job, especially with the race extended to two overtime laps.

“I was hoping to get a better launch so I was clear into Turn 2, but lost a bit of front grip,” Larson said. “I couldn’t get to the gas as soon as I needed to, so Chase was able to stay close. I got better outbraking him into the corners, so I could pass pretty easily.”

With the sweep at Sonoma, Larson extended his Cup-best stage win total to 11, well out in front in the series. Martin Truex Jr., who was looking for a third straight win at Sonoma, finished third, Joey Logano finished fourth and Kyle Busch completed the top five.

The race was slowed by cautions eight times for 18 laps, and the winning average speed was 71.445 mph.

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Calif Legislature looking into legalizing sports betting;Wallace insists rope was noose (see photo) ; plus more

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@bobpockrass photo: NASCAR’s only black driver Bubba Wallace’s crew member found a noose in his garage stall on Sunday night. Wallace had pushed for banning the Confederate flag symbols at NASCAR races. The FBI concluded from video evidence that the noose had been at stall number four since October 2019 long before Wallace was booked for that stall last weekend it was later determined it was not a noose but a door pull. Wallace on Don Lemon Tonight on CNN said he knows what a noose looks like adding, “tied in 2019 or now it was a noose.”

On Headline Sports podcast with Barbara:

#1 California Legislature is considering legalizing sports betting but casinos are putting up a fight as it would cut into their sports book business.

#2 Bubba Wallace NASCAR’s only black driver who two weeks ago pushed for banning the Confederate flag at NASCAR events. A member of Wallace’s crew found a noose in his garage stall late Sunday afternoon. After bringing in 15 FBI agents for an investigation into who left the noose in garage stall four where Wallace was at Talladega. Video evidence showed that the noose had been there since October 2019 and it was determined it was not a noose but a door pull.  No one would have known that Wallace would have been at that stall going forward. The FBI said they will not pursue federal charges. Wallace insisted on CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight on Tuesday night that it was a noose.

#3 Webb Simpson won the RBC Heritage on Sunday after finishing 7 under Par 64 at Harbour Town at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.

#4 Tiz the Law set a record winning the Belmont Stakes last Saturday in what is one of the few live sports in the Coronavirus era. Tiz the Law with his victory became the first New York bred horse to win at the Belmont in 138 years.

#5 After someone who visited the San Francisco Giants training facility in Scottsdale who was Covid-19 positive the facility was immediately shut down on Friday night. The person was a family member and several other individuals are being tested who had come in contact with this positive tested person. Teams who have closed facilities Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies and the Giants.

Join Barbara for Headline Sports each Tuesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Huff doubles down will attend Trump Rally after being banned at Giants celebration; Cal gets first win on the road this season; plus more

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photo from larrybrownsports.com: Aubrey Huff former San Francisco Giant will not be attending the Giants 10th World Series celebration of the 2010 World Series Championship

On Headline Sports with London:

#1 Ex-San Francisco Giant Aubrey Huff who will not be invited to the Giants tenth anniversary of their 2010 World Series reunion because of sexists tweets and also tweeting his kids would need to start taking target practice in the event Sen Bernie Sanders wins and his family had to live in a social society. The Giants stated because of these remarks he will not be invited to their 10th anniversary celebration of the 2010 World’s Championship.

#2 It’s been a long strange trip but the Cal Bears finally won a road game their first for this season at Washington State the Bears hope to get another road win on Saturday at Washington

#3 The San Jose Earthquakes open up their regular season against Toronto on Sat Feb 29th. The Quakes struggled all last season and are hoping for an improved season coming up.

#4 Daytona 500 race car driver Ryan Newman recovered rather quickly considering his car flipped over on the course in a heap of flames. Newman went into the hospital in serious condition but with non life threatening injuries. He was out of the hospital on Thursday.

#5 Washington signed running back Adrian Peterson for 2020 it will be Peterson’s 14th year in the NFL.

London does Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Sonoma Raceway: Truex keeps ahead of Busch for his fourth checkered flag

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photo from mercurynews.com: Martin Truex Jr celebrates winning the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday

By Tom Zulewski

SONOMA — As the laps wound down at the Toyota/SaveMart 350 on Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. didn’t have too much to worry about — until he found a mirror full of Kyle Busch, who was closing in fast. When the checkered flag fell, Truex had just enough to keep his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate at bay and win on the newly-expanded road course for the second year in a row.

The driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota took his fourth checkered flag of the 2019 season. “I was just trying to get all I could out of the car and not burn the tires up too much,” said Truex, who became the first repeat winner at Sonoma Raceway since Jeff Gordon won three straight from 1998-2000. “I knew Kyle pitted later than I did and had fresher tires. He was beating us pretty good for a while and I had to try and manage my car the best I could. If I could maintain a decent gap, we’d start to equal (lap times) out. “From there, it was run 10 perfect laps and don’t screw up.”

Truex Jr. stayed good enough to beat Busch by 1.861 seconds. Ryan Blaney came in third and Matt DiBenedetto had a career-best finish of fourth place. “It’s a little bit harder when you’re the leader,” Truex crew chief Cole Pearn said. “There are spots where you have to follow for a couple of corners, and you can lose three, four, five-tenths a lap. That’s enough to close and get a dive-bomb, so that’s all we were really worried about.”

Busch thought his chances of catching and passing Truex were limited. “I didn’t think there was gonna be a lot of a chance when I got there considering he was gonna be riding around and saving his tires,” Busch said. “It was gonna be a tall order to keep my momentum and speed going for the entire run.” Busch got his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota within a second of Truex, but couldn’t get any closer over the final five laps around the 2.52-mile layout that featured the return of the Carousel, a blind corner that returned as part of the track after a two-decade absence.

DiBenedetto, who hails from nearby Grass Valley, said he was looking forward to joining friends and family to watch the race on tape. “I’m going to text A.J. (Allmendinger) when I get back (home),” DiBenedetto said. “I’ve always been confident in my ability to wheel a race car, but I’m going against guys that are so good and so experienced, we had to make sure we got the car right.”

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – 31st Annual Toyota/Save Mart 350

Sonoma Raceway

Sonoma, California

Sunday, June 23, 2019

1. (8) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 90.

2. (7) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 90.

3. (9) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 90.

4. (19) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 90.

5. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 90.

6. (23) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 90.

7. (21) Ryan Newman, Ford, 90.

8. (32) Erik Jones, Toyota, 90.

9. (15) Aric Almirola, Ford, 90.

10. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 90.

11. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 90.

12. (11) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 90.

13. (16) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 90.

14. (12) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 90.

15. (25) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 90.

16. (10) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 90.

17. (5) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 90.

18. (22) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 90.

19. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 90.

20. (18) David Ragan, Ford, 90.

21. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 90.

22. (24) Paul Menard, Ford, 90.

23. (3) Joey Logano, Ford, 90.

24. (26) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.

25. (13) Michael McDowell, Ford, 89.

26. (30) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 89.

27. (31) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 89.

28. (28) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 89.

29. (20) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 89.

30. (29) Parker Kligerman(i), Toyota, 89.

31. (35) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 89.

32. (27) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 89.

33. (37) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 89.

34. (33) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 88.

35. (38) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 88.

36. (34) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, Fatigue, 64.

37. (4) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Engine, 60.

38. (36) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 53.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 83.922 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 42 Mins, 9 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.861 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 2 for 6 laps.

Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K. Larson 0;W. Byron 1-21;C. Elliott 22-24;M. Truex Jr. 25-37;D. Hamlin 38-41;M. Truex Jr. 42-63;K. Busch 64-66;M. Truex Jr. 67-90.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Martin Truex Jr. 3 times for 59 laps; William Byron 1 time for 21 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 4 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 3 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 3 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 10,11,21,22,24,37,4,42,48,88

Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,17,18,19,2,22,24,42,43,9

Tom Zulewski covers the NASCAR Somona Raceway each year at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports Podcast with Tony Renteria: OJ to be paroled in October; Most likely to live with his children in Florida

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Former NFL football star O.J. Simpson reacts after learning he was granted parole at Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nev., on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Simpson was convicted in 2008 of enlisting some men he barely knew, including two who had guns, to retrieve from two sports collectibles sellers some items that Simpson said were stolen from him a decade earlier. (Jason Bean/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, Pool)

On the Headlines Sports Podcast with Tony:

1 OJ Simpson former San Francisco 49ers running back after spending nine years in Lovelock Correctional Facility in Nevada is set to be paroled on October 1st. Simpson was told by the board that he would be paroled for the crime of robbery for his sports merchandise in a Vegas Hotel. Simpson simply said, “Oh God Oh” when he was told he would be paroled.

2 Tony talks about how the stigma of the 1992 double murder charges which Simpson was found not guilty of and how his nine year property robbery sentence played a role in those murder charges as sort of pay back

3 The Los Angeles Clippers signing of star Blake Griffin to a five year deal was as Griffin put it a no brainer, Griffin said he started his career in LA and wants to end it with the Clippers

4 Race car driver Dale Earnhardt’s wife Amy said on social media that this would be Earnhardt’s finals season of auto racing. Earnhardt has suffered enough concussions and that his recovery process from the injuries were taking a toll and that she wanted to see Earnhardt to stay healthy and live out his many remaining years

Tony Renteria does Headline Sports Podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Harvick breaks drought to capture Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma

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Kevin Harvick celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race Sunday, June 25, 2017, in Sonoma, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Tom Zulewski

After 20 races without traversing victory lane, Kevin Harvick was desperate for redemption.

He finally got it Sunday.

It had been more than a year since the 2014 Sprint Cup champion had finished first, but he finally tasted victory after transitioning from Chevrolet to Ford for Stewart-Hass Racing at Sonoma Raceway’s Toyota/Save Mart 350—in a relatively clean race, at that. At the windy road course, there was over an hour without a caution flag, almost unheard of at a track of the type.

Harvick took the lead from Brad Keselowski with 22 laps remaining and held on for his first win of 2017 at the Toyota/SaveMart 350. It was his first win at the first of NASCAR’s two road- course races, and Harvick became the 10th different driver to earn his first win at Sonoma in the last 12 years. With the new stage racing format in play for the first time, new records were set with 13 lead changes and 10 different drivers who led a lap.

Harvick’s SHR teammate, Clint Bowyer, finished second as the race ended under caution when Kasey Kahne crashed into a cement retaining wall on the 110th and final lap of the race. There were five cautions in total, only two involving accidents (Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick got together in the uphill turn 1 at lap 16, and the pair had a similar incident 16 laps later in turn 4 that ended the day for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and one for debris at lap 40.

Harvick won for the 36th time in his NASCAR Monster Energy Cup career and became the 11th different driver to win a race this season. He qualified 12th and his average speed was 78.710 mph. Martin Truex Jr., the 2013 winner at Sonoma, won Stage 1, but ran into engine trouble and finished 37th. Jimmie Johnson, who won at Sonoma in 2010, won Stage 2, led 12 laps, but finished 13th.