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Judging by their reactions – the cheers and tears, the fist pumps and high fives – you'd think all of Tony Stewart’s parents, friends and teammates standing in his pit stall were watching the wily veteran win his very first NASCAR race.As it turns out, Stewart’s absolutely thrilling last-lap victory on the beautiful Sonoma road course last June was actually his final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win – No. 49 in a three-championship career that concluded at the end of the 2016 season.
As the series returns to the scenic California wine country this weekend for the 2017 Sonoma race, Stewart, 46, readily admits it will forever be a venue close to his heart.
"It's definitely a place I liked anyway, but anytime I have a chance to go out there it's going to remind me of my last win out there," Stewart told NASCAR.com. "Sonoma will always be a special place to me because of that."
In fact, Stewart would likely concede, if last offseason he and his fans were imagining the setting for his final Cup victory, they might think about him hoisting a big trophy in the sport's iconic Daytona 500 victory circle or maybe doing donuts after a win at the Southern 500 in Darlington.
Perhaps that last win in his sure-bet NASCAR Hall of Fame career might have come at a short track like Richmond International Raceway, where Stewart claimed his first premier series victory, or even at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the former open-wheel marvel instead won twice at the track driving a stock car.
RELATED: See how Stewart won at SonomaBut that career exclamation point instead came on the Northern California road course where a year ago, Stewart put on a thrilling show in the waning laps besting Denny Hamlin in a last-corner, last-lap pass for the win.
"I definitely would not have predicted that," Stewart said. "We've had a lot of success on road courses, but I wouldn't have said that's where my last win would have come for sure."
At the time, Stewart was hopeful the emotional, hard-fought and crazy popular win at Sonoma would not be his last, either.
"I really wanted one more, I wanted a nice round number of 50," Stewart said with a laugh. "But to finish my career with a win was good because I hadn't had one the previous (three) seasons. So that was cool.
"And it was a big deal to me to get that win like that. You'd like to have won the Daytona 500 or win the Southern 500 but a road course like that, a place that I like so much. That was pretty special."
It was exceptional.
Stewart and Hamlin raced the last laps in an epic battle for the win. Although Stewart was credited for leading the final 22 laps, the hard-charging Hamlin got around him in Turn 7 of the final lap but then wheel-hopped on the 12th and very last turn giving Stewart all the opportunity he needed to pass him back. And race off to take the checkered flag. His final one.
RELATED: Stewart snaps 84-race skid, foils Hamlin in Sonoma thrillerThat momentous last turn – appropriately enough – was located almost directly in front of Stewart's pit, which erupted in cheers and hugs as Stewart's No. 14 charged ahead to the finish line.
"I had two laps on my tires when those guys all came out on stickers and the best laps were the first two laps run," Stewart recalled. "That was what we needed to get ourselves in position to do what we did.
"But, to battle those guys like we did and especially at the end there with Denny ... we both didn't run a very good last lap. We both wheel-hopped and everything else but you could tell both of us were doing everything we could do to win the race. You never forget battles like that. I will never forget that because of how special that win ended up being. Those are the moments you always look forward to having."
Hamlin, who is Stewart's longtime friend and former teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, conceded that while he was disappointed in the outcome, he does appreciate his role fighting Stewart to the last turn for what became a Hall of Famer's final victory. He recalled the details of that day as well -- smiling a little and shaking his head.
"It was a great moment for Tony, semi-great moment for me because I got to race him like that for his final win," Hamlin said. "That is a small consolation prize for sure, though. It was (a great race). You always like to be on the winning end, but I think about it all the time.
"You talk about my win in (2016) Daytona (500) and there was someone else on the other side of that photo finish. Now I kind of understand what Martin Truex felt like. He's seen that picture a thousand times and he gets asked about it all the time.
"It's the same thing for me. I was the one that came up short to Tony."
Hamlin can take some solace in the fact Stewart will go down as one of NASCAR’s best road course racers. He's beaten the best, capping his career as a three-time winner at Sonoma and a five-time winner at Watkins Glen, too. Only Jeff Gordon has more total wins (nine to Stewart’s eight) on NASCAR's current two road course circuits.
RELATED: Full look at Stewart's career statsAnd it was easy to tell in Stewart's winner's press conference last summer how special it really was to gulp some victory wine and hoist a winner’s trophy again.
"I got the flag at the flag stand, and I thought, well, I'll turn and come back down pit road backwards," Stewart explained last summer. "And then I was like, this is my last time here. I want to go one more lap, and I went one more lap. I didn't just drive the lap, I drove up there and where the crowd was, I did burnouts and revved the motor onto the chip.
"But it just was fun to say, 'Hey, thanks.' This place has meant a lot to me. It's nice to ‑‑ if I don't win another one, it's cool to win the last one here. If it doesn't happen again, it's cool. I'll be all right if this is the last place I win one."
And so it was.
"Smoke," as he is affectionately nicknamed, may still "win another" in Northern California. He will be racing sprint cars at nearby Calistoga Speedway on Saturday night before driving over for his big Sonoma homecoming.
"It's been great," Stewart said of the "retired" life. "It's nice because I still go to the track and still see all the people and that's the best part. But if I get in there after practice has started, I'm not in trouble. I'm not worrying about anything. It's nice to just have a little more relaxed schedule.
"And I'm really looking forward to being there in Sonoma again."