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Martin Truex Jr. Schools Field with Dominant Sonoma Win

Martin Truex Jr. knows what it is like to beat Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)

SONOMA, Calif. – Martin Truex Jr. is reaping the benefits of weathering through last year’s tough, winless campaign with a far kinder, victorious start to 2023.

Rather than the focus spotlight the pointed moments between Truex and crew chief James Small, the emphasis should be on this duo’s incredible recent run of success. After all, Truex snapped a 54-race winless drought with a triumph at Dover Motor Speedway in late April.

Likely locked into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the Mayetta Township, New Jersey native was ready to rumble in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. However, in the early going, Denny Hamlin established himself as a formidable contender, starting from the pole and leading the race’s opening 32 laps.

Starting from the eighth position, Truex worked his way past his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, on Lap 33.  Enjoying his first stint in the lead for 18 laps, Truex established himself as the man to beat, making his presence known at the front of the field for 53 of the race’s 110 laps.

By far, of the seven different leaders in Sunday’s race, Truex was the dominant force, looking more like the man who won at Sonoma in 2013, 2018 and 2019.

Despite the race’s two cautions, namely for a tire that rolled loose from Zane Smith’s pit stall on Lap 51 and Denny Hamlin’s frontstretch crash on Lap 93, it was Truex’s race to lose.

Truex and Small put an incredible performance together for a successful Sunday at Sonoma. (Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)

While there were different pit strategies to try and gain traction position ahead of or run near Truex, the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry was simply too much at the Northern California road course.

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who started from the 12th spot, worked his way up to second in the closing laps. Still, he did not have the pace to catch and challenge Truex for the win.

In the end, Truex captured his second victory of the season, besting Busch by 2.979 seconds. After earning his 33rd career Cup win, Truex expressed his unwavering confidence with his team’s preparation and efforts ahead of Sunday’s race.

“I felt like our Bass Pro Shops Camry TRD was really close (on Saturday) in practice. If we could make a few adjustments, I thought we would be good,” Truex said. “They definitely made the right adjustments. This place is all about rear traction, rear drive and being able to manage that and keep turning and keep momentum. We were able to do that today. The car was really, really good.

“Just a total team effort. Everybody works really, really hard. We were awful here last year, and at road course in general, so to come back here, this has kind of been a playground for us before, and to be able to get back here with this car and do it again feels really, really special. It’s really gratifying. We’ve worked hard for this one.”

Busch is enjoying the current run of frontrunning finishes. (Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)

The theme of hard work paying dividends seemed prevalent with the top three finishers including Busch and his No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team. If Busch had it his way, there would be a race next weekend.

“It’s nice to come out here with a second place finish after a win last week,” Busch said. “We have three wins at this point in the season, and this team is really stringing together some good runs, so I don’t know if I want an off week. It will be good to regroup, focus and set up for the last 18 races of the season, though.

“Overall, I’m just really proud of the guys on this team, the communication, and the way they are able to go to work, work through some of our issues and try to improve on what I need to be able to feel in a race car and pull out finishes like the one we had today. If we can keep doing those things, we will be a force for the championship.”

Joey Logano mustered a rewarding third place finish, a feat that seemed like a victory considering the struggles that Team Penske endured throughout the Sonoma Raceway weekend. Much like Busch and Truex, some brilliant teamwork paid off in the race.

Solid execution and teamwork played a helping hand with Logano’s strong Sonoma finish. (Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)

“Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) made some great calls, but also made some great changes,” Logano said. “I kind of felt like doing a burnout after our day. That felt pretty good. Great execution. We got the car a lot better last night where I could at least hang in the top five.

“We got lucky a few times today. One with the strategy, but also we got hit by the 45 (Tyler Reddick) and knocked the tire off the bead, but somehow it’s holding air, so we got pretty lucky today and got through it.”

In spite of Truex’s commanding victory, it was not without its understanding fears and concerns. After all, Sonoma has its short track calamity moments that eliminate contenders by the wayside like teammate Hamlin crashing out in a Lap 93 fronstretch accident.

On this race day, Truex, Small and the No. 19 team put a virtually flawless afternoon that greatly increases their case as a genuine championship contender.

To the victors enjoying a post-race before a Father’s Day holiday weekend off. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)

“Yeah, it is a little nerve-wracking,” Truex said. “You get a restart, we restarted 10th in the middle the race after leading – just strategy got kind of jumbled up – with that weird caution the way it fell. You are always nervous that you are going to get banged up or get off course.

“This track is narrow and it is hard to pass. When you are racing around guys with older tires, it is easy for them to make a mistake and slide into us, but everybody raced clean, raced hard, and we were able to pull it out.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers
  1. Denny Hamlin
  2. Martin Truex Jr.
  3. Christopher Bell
  4. AJ Allmendinger
  5. Michael McDowell
  6. Tyler Reddick
  7. Chris Buescher
  8. Ty Gibbs
  9. Alex Bowman
  10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers
  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Joey Logano
  3. Ross Chastain
  4. William Byron
  5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  6. Austin Dillon
  7. Martin Truex Jr.
  8. Michael McDowell
  9. Christopher Bell
  10. Kevin Harvick
Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway Finishing Order
Finish Start Car No. Driver Sponsor/Make Status
1 8 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota Running
2 12 8 Kyle Busch McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Running
3 17 22 Joey Logano Autotrader Ford Running
4 7 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford Running
5 10 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts/Valvoline Chevrolet Running
6 5 16 AJ Allmendinger Gabriel Glas Chevrolet Running
7 3 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford Running
8 16 5 Kyle Larson Valvoline Chevrolet Running
9 4 20 Christopher Bell Rheem/Resideo Toyota Running
10 15 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Chevrolet Running
11 21 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Ford Running
12 13 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet Running
13 22 41 Ryan Preece Autodesk Ford Running
14 26 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Running
15 14 48 Alex Bowman Ally Pride Chevrolet Running
16 25 6 Brad Keselowski King’s Hawaiian Ford Running
17 18 23 Bubba Wallace DoorDash Toyota Running
18 6 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota Running
19 11 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet Running
20 19 7 Corey LaJoie Schulter Systems Chevrolet Running
21 23 31 Justin Haley Cirkul Chevrolet Running
22 9 99 Daniel Suárez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Running
23 27 77 Ty Dillon NationsGuard Chevrolet Running
24 32 51 Todd Gilliland Serial 1 E-Bikes Ford Running
25 34 2 Austin Cindric America’s Tire Ford Running
26 35 42 Grant Enfinger Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Running
27 36 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford Running
28 20 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford Running
29 24 14 Chase Briscoe Ford Performance Racing School Ford Running
30 29 78 Josh Bilicki Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet Running
31 31 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Moen Ford Running
32 28 43 Erik Jones Allegiant Chevrolet Running
33 2 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Unleashed Toyota Running
34 30 38 Zane Smith Wellcare Ford Running
35 33 15 Andy Lally Camping World Ford Running
36 1 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Haircut Toyota Accident

 

 

Rob Tiongson is a sports writer and editor originally from the Boston area and resides in the Austin, Texas, area. Tiongson has covered motorsports series like NASCAR and INDYCAR since 2008 and NHRA since 2013. Most recently, Tiongson is covering professional basketball, mainly the WNBA, and women's college basketball. While writing and editing for The Podium Finish, Tiongson currently seeks for a long-term sportswriting and sports content creating career. Tiongson enjoys editing and writing articles and features, as well as photography. Moreover, he enjoys time with his family and friends, traveling, cooking, working out and being a fun uncle or "funcle" to his nephew, niece and cat. Tiongson is an alum of Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and St. Bonaventure University's renowned Jandoli School of Communication with a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism.

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