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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