June 23, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Truex stomps the competition at Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif.—For the second-straight season, Martin Truex Jr., popped the cork in Victory Lane at Sonoma Raceway.

Despite a change to the course from 1.99-miles to 2.52—and a change of teams—Truex continued his domination in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday.

Truex led 59 of 90 laps and held off Kyle Busch by 1.861-seconds for his third Sonoma win and his fourth victory of 2019.

“Just dug down deep, tried to be smooth, hit my marks,” Truex said. “Luckily, I was able to have a big enough gap where I could settle in, not feel too much pressure. It was definitely difficult.”

Blaney finished third, 33-seconds behind Truex. Matt DiBenedetto was fourth—his first Cup career top-five finish. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola and pole-sitter Kyle Larson rounded out the top 10.

The No. 18 team had a strategy for Busch. Crew chief Adam Stevens pit Busch for the final time on Lap 67—four laps after Truex. The calculated that Busch would catch Truex with 10 laps remaining in the race. But Truex had an 8.269-second lead when he cycled out to the point on Lap 69.

Despite margin shrinking between the teammates, Busch never came close to catching Truex with 10 circuits remaining.

“Any time I had to lean on the left rear, I just didn't have the drive that I needed,” Busch said. “Actually, tried to hold on to it, trying to save it. I knew that was going to be our problem. That had been our problem all day long. You get closer, you're like, ‘Okay, I can get him, I better go, pounce on him fast, so then he doesn't have the time to pick up the pace.

“But it didn't work. He was obviously saving a lot. I knew he was going to be saving a lot, have enough to be able to most likely hold us off. I was right. I still tried everything I could to get there and ran really hard.”

For the seventh time in their careers, Truex and Busch finished first and second with Truex winning four of the battles.

“Our M&M's Camry was fast,” Busch added. “Real proud of that.  Adam and the boys, we came here a little better this year than we have in years past, so that felt nice.

“Sucks to finish second to a teammate, but it's good for the company. Overall, Martin is really, really good here. I'm just pumped that I actually ran good here.”

William Byron took the lead from Larson heading up the hill in Turn 1 and led the first 21 laps and the Stage 1 win. The top 12 drivers at the end of stage stayed on the track as the rest of the field pitted. Hamlin, Joey Logano, Larson, Almirola, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Harvick, Paul Menard and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.

After Byron pitted, Elliott, who short-pitted, assumed the lead on Lap 22. When the race returned to green on Lap 25, Truex jumped out to the lead for the first of three times. Elliott would fall out of the race 35 laps later when his engine failed. He finished 37th.

On Lap 28, Clint Bowyer pit from fifth-place with a loose wheel. He dropped to 37th but worked his way back to an 11th-place finish. Three laps later, Almirola spun in Turn 4. Michael McDowell spun Paul Menard on Lap 33 in Turn 11. With four laps remaining in the stage, green flag pit stops began on Lap 36. Truex pitted on Lap 38 and cycled out to seventh by the end of Stage 2.

Hamlin took the green-checkered flag for the second time this season followed by Brad Keselowski, Byron, Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Larson—all who remained on the track until stage end. Truex, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10 in Stage 2—the second and final caution of the race.

Once again, Truex claimed the lead. He would relinquish the point for three laps to Busch to pit on lap 64. Regardless, of the No. 18 team’s strategy, Truex was unstoppable over the final 24 laps.

“That was the longest run of the race there at the end for us on tires,” Truex said. “It felt terrible the last 20 laps. Last 10 it was just like on ice, no grip anywhere.

“Just really proud of all these guys. Everybody on this Bass Pro Shops Camry, everybody at TRD, everybody back at JGR, all the fans, Auto Owners, everybody who makes this thing possible. What a season we turned this into. This group, man, they're unbelievable. Hopefully, we can keep this going.”

Truex’s fourth win in 2019 marks the fourth season he’s won at least four races under the direction of crew chief Cole Pearn.

"The sport takes everything to go right to win," Pearn said. "We were very fortunate to have a great relationship together. For sure, he's gotten better. I mean, I think that's one of the great things about him. I think that's whats so hard for rookies coming into the sport these days is the fact that you've got guys that are at the top of the sport that are always trying to get better themselves. I think that about Kyle Busch. I think that about Denny Hamlin. They're trying to get better all the time.

"When those guys continue to improve, you've got to do the same. Martin has done a great job of that this year with all of the rule changes. It's a different style of racing, a lot more downforce. You had no downforce last year and a ton of downforce this year. The fact that you can win in both configurations is really important."

Logano retained a one-point lead in the Cup standings over Kyle Busch despite finishing 23rd after suffering electrical issues. Hamlin scored 51 points in the race and advanced to sixth-place.

The Cup series moves on to Chicagoland Speedway next weekend where Busch is the defending winner.