NASCAR Sonoma: Larson continues domination with latest win

Larson held off his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Chase Elliott in a two-lap overtime fight to secure the win in at Sonoma Raceway, but his victory never seemed seriously challenged.

Larson started on the pole, won both stages and led 57 of the 92 laps and was only under threat when a late-race three-car wreck set up an overtime period. But after Elliott got close in the first three turns, Larson was able to pull away and stay comfortably out front.

The win is Larson’s third of the 2021 season and second consecutive triumph, having also won all three stages and the race last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Our car was awesome all day, made my job a lot easier than it has some days in the past,” Larson said.

“The tyres, when they’d get hot and cycle cool under yellow, I lost some front grip. I kind of missed my apexes in a few corners so Chase stayed on me longer than I wanted him to but I was able to get away for the last lap.

“It’s just a lot of hard work [from Hendrick Motorsports]. It’s been putting in for a long time now. A few years ago, for their standards, they were struggling. They dug down deep and we continue to work hard, too.

“I hope this is just the beginning of a lot more wins now.”

Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, said the #5 team waivered from their strategy despite the rash of cautions in the final stage.

“We stuck to our strategy at the beginning of the race. The only thing we did different was not short [pitting] Stage 2,” he said. “We had a fast enough car we felt we could pass back up through there if we got Stage 2 points.

“It paid off, which was great, definitely glad it did.”

Larson’s win is the fourth consecutive in the Cup by a Hendrick Motorsports driver and the fourth consecutive race Hendrick drivers have finished first and second in a race.

Martin Truex Jr – who had won the last two races at Sonoma prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – finished third for Joe Gibbs Racing, with Joey Logano in fourth for Team Penske as Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) rounded out the top-five.

Kurt Busch took sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of team-mate Ross Chastain, as Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing), Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports) and Ryan Blaney (Team Penske) completed the top 10.

Results

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	92	3:14'41.653			57
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	92	3:14'42.267	0.614	0.614	13
3	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	92	3:14'43.522	1.869	1.255
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	92	3:14'44.290	2.637	0.768	5
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	92	3:14'45.127	3.474	0.837	2
6	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	92	3:14'46.491	4.838	1.364	8
7	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	92	3:14'47.211	5.558	0.720
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	92	3:14'48.549	6.896	1.338	2
9	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	92	3:14'49.148	7.495	0.599
10	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	92	3:14'50.042	8.389	0.894
11	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	92	3:14'50.557	8.904	0.515
12	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	92	3:14'51.290	9.637	0.733
13	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	92	3:14'52.085	10.432	0.795
14	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	92	3:14'52.410	10.757	0.325
15	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	92	3:14'52.570	10.917	0.160
16	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	92	3:14'52.822	11.169	0.252
17	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	92	3:14'53.272	11.619	0.450
18	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	92	3:14'53.442	11.789	0.170
19	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	92	3:14'53.968	12.315	0.526
20	41	Cole Custer	Ford	92	3:14'55.461	13.808	1.493
21	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	92	3:14'55.717	14.064	0.256
22	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	92	3:14'55.805	14.152	0.088
23	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	92	3:14'56.037	14.384	0.232
24	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	92	3:14'56.716	15.063	0.679
25	15	James Davison	Chevrolet	92	3:14'56.925	15.272	0.209
26	78	Scott Heckert	Ford	92	3:14'57.258	15.605	0.333
27	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	92	3:14'58.183	16.530	0.925
28	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	92	3:14'58.602	16.949	0.419
29	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	92	3:14'59.516	17.863	0.914
30	77	Ben Rhodes	Chevrolet	92	3:14'59.654	18.001	0.138
31	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	92	3:14'59.943	18.290	0.289
32	53	Garrett Smithley	Ford	92	3:15'01.778	20.125	1.835
33	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	92	3:15'05.693	24.040	3.915
34	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	84	2:53'43.249	8 Laps	8 Laps
35	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	76	2:35'12.400	16 Laps	8 Laps	5
36	00	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	69	2:20'48.835	23 Laps	7 Laps
37	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	40	2:03'13.690	52 Laps	29 Laps