Today at Sonoma it was an up and down race. However, through the chaos and smoke, Kyle Larson came through victorious. The NASCAR champion battled it out with Martin Truex Jr. at the end and was able to claim his third victory of the season.
Kyle Larson took damage in qualifying trying to squeeze as much speed as possible from his car. It wasn’t that big of a deal with just a wrap repair needed before race day.
Today, Larson played the pit strategy perfectly under Cliff Daniels’ direction. He did what he was asked and it resulted in a big win. Another win with Valvoline, too.
Stage 1 goes to Tyler Reddick
The first stage of this race was chaotic to say the least. But that was good, it set us up for a very exciting finish between the leaders. There was no long green flag run like we saw in the Xfinity Series on Saturday.
Instead, Denny Hamlin blew his engine on Lap 2 of the race. Then there were more issues as the field couldn’t help themselves from spinning one another at every moment.
There were spins off the track that did not result in a caution. Then there were others that brought out the flag and stacked up the cars again. Cautions and restarts breed cautions, so it wasn’t surprising.
At the very least, we were able to see teams use different pit strategies. That would come in handy later on. It was Tyler Reddick from the get go. Joey Logano short-pitted the stage and never recovered.
Chris Buescher tries to run away from Kyle Larson on strategy
A sneaky good road course racer, Chris Buescher hung around for most of this race. He also used those cautions in the first stage and in the second stage in order to advance his position.
Buescher has had a hard time this season. He has been so close and yet so far from Victory Lane. That has been the way that this season has gone and there isn’t much else to say about it.
Kyle Larson was always lingering in the background though. Running long on tires and fuel, Larson got everything out of his car throughout the race. It would end up paying off at the end of the race.
Stage 2 went to Buescher. He gladly pocketed the stage points and the playoff point as well. The story would end just a little early for Buescher in the end, though.
Kyle Larson trusts Cliff Daniels, wins on strategy late
The pit strategies separated the field and in the final stage it was all about the drivers. Which team set their driver up the best to last until the end? Who would come out looking like the genius? Well, it was once again Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels.
Larson is a driver who just gets in the car and goes. He doesn’t know what is going on, he just listens to his crew chief and executes. Most of the time, doing what is asked of you is more than enough on the race track.
When the race started to get to the final 30 laps, it was clear who the race would be between – Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., and Kyle Larson. For many laps, it was Truex chasing down Buescher. Then, the No. 5 car joined the party.
Truex made the pass on Buescher and brought Larson along with him for the ride. Then it was a two-horse race. It wasn’t long before Larson had taken the lead and started to pull away. Once Truex ran out of fuel on the final lap, it was obvious who would win the race.
Kyle Larson put together another masterclass with Cliff Daniels. Excellent execution all the way top to bottom and in one of the most memorable Sonoma races in quite some time.
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