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Sonoma NASCAR: Tony Stewart claims first win in three years

Tony Stewart ended a three-year NASCAR Sprint Cup victory drought by winning under huge pressure from Denny Hamlin at Sonoma

Having qualified 10th before dropping down the order in the middle of the race, Stewart chose to make an early final pitstop to pre-empt a potential debris caution.

The yellow came and Stewart stayed out as all the frontrunners pitted, enabling him to take the lead with 20 laps to go.

With the bunched-up pack behind him, the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet driver made it through another caution and restart in the lead when Michael McDowell parked his car on the side of the track.

After holding out until the final lap, it looked like the win was lost when Hamlin took Stewart on the inside to steal first place, before Stewart snatched it back with only two corners to go.

The win was Stewart's first since June 2013 and gave him hope of reaching the Chase in his final season before retiring.

Having missed eight races at the start of the year due to back injuries from a pre-season dune buggy crash, Stewart must get into the top 30 in the championship to be Chase eligible regardless of his win status but the Sonoma victory brings him up to 32nd.

The closing lap fight livened up an otherwise uneventful race.

Martin Truex Jr joined Hamlin in pressuring Stewart before contact between them with eight laps to go.

Joey Logano finished third, with polesitter Carl Edwards, hampered by a long third stop, fourth ahead of Truex.

Road course expert AJ Allmendinger was a contender for the win before receiving a penalty for an uncontrolled tyre at his final pitstop.

It set him back to 35th but he made it up to 14th by the time the flag fell.

Kurt Busch had a disappointing race, struggling with a car that swung towards oversteer and losing six places from his qualifying position to finish 10th.

Aside from the McDowell caution and two for debris, the only other yellow came when Clint Bowyer's HScott Chevrolet caught fire due to an electrical problem just six laps into the race.

RESULTS - 110 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 2h42m13.s
2 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 0.625s
3 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 0.981s
4 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 1.865s
5 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 2.980s
6 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 3.350s
7 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 4.065s
8 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4.984s
9 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 5.724s
10 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 6.772s
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 7.780s
12 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 9.785s
13 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10.050s
14 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 10.509s
15 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 11.957s
16 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 13.275s
17 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 13.830s
18 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 14.366s
19 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 15.230s
20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 16.168s
21 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 17.852s
22 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 18.439s
23 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 19.118s
24 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 19.411s
25 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.529s
26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 21.018s
27 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 23.422s
28 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 25.540s
29 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.830s
30 Chris Buescher Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.103s
31 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 30.449s
32 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 31.922s
33 Brian Scott Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 32.570s
34 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Toyota 32.664s
35 Dylan Lupton BK Racing Toyota 34.760s
36 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 1 Lap
37 Patrick Carpentier Go FAS Racing Ford 2 Laps
38 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet Engine
39 Michael McDowell Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet Rear Gear
40 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet Electrical


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