Posted on by Staff Report

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — There are going to be some heavy hitters rolling into South Boston Speedway this weekend for the track‘s huge mid-season Late Model classic. Familiar names like Morris, Pulliam, Sellers, Peters and McCarty.

Poised not far behind that group, flying a bit under the radar is Brandon Pierce. While he may not have the stats and championships of Philip Morris, Lee Pulliam, Peyton Sellers, Timothy Peters or Bobby McCarty, Pierce has to be considered a legitimate contender in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson Presented By Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort NASCAR Whelen Late Model 200.

RELATED: Short Track Summer | VIDEO: My NASCAR, My Excitement

He finished fourth in last year‘s event and was fifth in 2016. He picked up his first South Boston Speedway win last season and his first CARS Tour victory early this season. He is driving a car prepared by Pulliam this year and he says that partnership has accelerated the learning process.

“Everybody knows about all of Lee‘s success overall and especially at South Boston. There is always something you can learn from someone of his caliber,” Pierce said of the four-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion. “I‘ve asked him so many questions; he has taught me so much, about driving and about the car.”

Although Pierce hasn‘t raced at South Boston this year, he says he‘s learned so much about the .4-mile oval by watching Pulliam‘s performances at the track closely this season.

“I always thought I did pretty good at South Boston,” said Pierce, who ran at the track full time in 2016 and 2017, his first full seasons in Late Model. “But I‘ve learned so much about it this year. I‘ve been with Lee every week he‘s raced there this year, watching his car and his driving style.

“I‘ve taken a lot of notes. I‘m really looking forward to practice on Friday so I can put all of that to use.”

Pierce said he believes there is more buzz than normal about Saturday‘s race among both fans and drivers. There are several reasons, he said. The larger first-place payout, up from $6,500 in 2018 to $10,000 this year, has contributed, he says. So has the fact it is the first race in the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown, the coveted three-race series that includes stops at Langley Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

“If you win this one, you‘ve definitely accomplished something. If it lives up to its billing, if everyone shows up that I hear is coming, the best of the best are going to be there.”

Pierce has been running the CARS Tour fulltime the past two seasons, but South Boston Speedway remains special to him.

“I definitely have this one circled because South Boston always feels like home to me. I ran there two years full time,” said Pierce, who is sponsored by Thunder Road Harley-Davidson, Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort, Fremont Properties, Discount Oil Company, Bondurant Brothers Distillery, Amanzi Marble & Granite and Mincey‘s Graphics.

“I love the track. I love everybody there. I developed some fan base there and it‘s always good going somewhere you‘ve got experience.”

Pierce and Pulliam have only raced head-to-head once this season. He ran in the top five most of that day with his boss and teammate Corey Heim. It was good, clean, fun racing, Pierce said. But what would happen Saturday night if Pulliam is leading and he is running second on the final lap?

“I‘d definitely give him a shot (in the bumper) and he would be mad if I didn‘t. I‘d give him big enough of a shot to get side-by-side. He‘d be grinning ear-to-ear. I‘d love that opportunity. And he‘d do the same to me.”

Saturday‘s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson Presented By Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort NASCAR Whelen Late Model 200 is going to be a celebration of racing and family fun. There will be racing in four divisions, a huge fan appreciation event on the track prior to the race and a spectacular fireworks display after the final race.

In addition to the 200-lap Late Model race, there will be a 75-lap Limited Sportsman race, a 40-lap Budweiser Pure Stock race and a 20-lap Budweiser Hornets race.

Advance tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the South Boston Speedway office or by calling 877.440.1540, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On race day tickets will be $20 for adults. Children 12-and-under will be admitted free with a paying adult.

Posted on by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

Unlike recent weeks in which the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visited unique tracks like Pocono, Michigan and Sonoma, we should have a solid amount of data to help make our Props Challenge selections this weekend.

For the first time since the Coca-Cola 600 in May, the Cup Series heads to a 1.5-mile racetrack for Sunday’s Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

To make my NASCAR Props Challenge picks this week, I’ll be leaning heavily on performance from the five previous races run at 1.5-mile tracks (Atlanta, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas and Charlotte), as well as historical race trends from Chicagoland Speedway.

1. Will a different driver win Stage 1, Stage 2 and the race? Yes or No?

There have been only two Monster Energy Series races at Chicagoland since stage racing was introduced, so there’s not much of a sample of data here to analyze.

As a result, I’m going with my gut and will say that Sunday’s race follows last year’s with different drivers winning Stage 1, Stage 2 and the race.

Pick: Yes

2. O/U 17.5 lead changes?

This average is skewed by 24 lead changes in last year’s Cup Series race at Chicagoland, while the previous three races finished with 12, 17 and 17, respectively.

Pick: Under

3. Will Sunday’s winner start inside the top five?

Over the last 10 Cup races at Chicagoland, the winner has started inside the top five just once — 2017 race winner Martin Truex Jr. started third.

Pick: No

4. O/U 35.5 race points for Kyle Larson?

In last year’s race, six drivers scored at least 36 race points, including Larson who finished with a race-high 52 points.

Download the FREE Action Network app to finish reading this article and get the rest of PJ Walsh’s NASCAR Props Challenge Picks.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Martin Truex Jr.’s Sonoma spectacular win will honorably earn most of the headlines coming out of the weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ first road course race of the season.

He joins NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon as the only two drivers in Sonoma Raceway history to win back-to-back races. And, equally as important to the 2017 series champion, the victory was No. 4 on the season, tying him with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch for most in the series.

Busch now trails defending series champion Joey Logano by a single point in the championship standings. And while Truex is ranked fifth in points – 100 behind Logano – he would move to second place if the playoff rankings (based on victories) were reset today.

RELATED: Series standings

But it was another group of competitors in Sunday’s field that find themselves immersed in a race-by-race, high-stakes battle to stay among the NASCAR Playoff Top 16 as the series moves to Chicagoland Speedway for this week’s Camping World 400 (Sunday, June 30 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who finished 19th at Sonoma, is currently ranked 14th in the Monster Energy Series driver standings with a 29-point advantage over his Hendrick teammate, 17th-place Jimmie Johnson, who fell just outside the championship cut-off despite a 12th-place run at Sonoma. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, who finished 10th at Sonoma, moved into 15th in the series driver standings and trails Byron by 11 points.

Roush-Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman, who finished seventh at Sonoma, moved into the 16th and final playoff transfer position. He has the slimmest-of-slim, 1-point advantage over Johnson, who was 12th at Sonoma. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones, who finished eighth on Sunday, is ranked 18th in the series driver standings, only five points behind Newman in the cutoff position with 10 races left to settle the playoff field.

There has been substantial movement between 15th and 18th place in the standings in just the last seven weeks. Newman, Johnson and Jones, for example, have changed points positions six times in the last seven races. Larson has moved four times.

There are 10 races remaining to set the 16-driver NASCAR Playoff field – naturally creating a sort of Playoff “Chase” within the playoff push. And it’s go-time.

RELATED: Monster Energy Series schedule

Byron, the second-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver, scored only a pair of top-10 finishes at the 10 tracks ultimately setting this year’s playoff field. He was sixth at Pocono and eighth at Watkins Glen in his maiden Cup season (2018). However, he does have a pair of past NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series wins at both Daytona and Indianapolis – important venues in this next 10-race group.

Larson has fared very well at the upcoming venues – scoring 20 of his career 48 top-five finishes at one of these next 10 tracks. And he has a career best three wins at Michigan.

Judging by statistics, Newman should feel very optimistic about this stretch of the schedule, too. He certainly was enthused by his work at Sonoma. His seventh-place finish was his best showing since a seventh in 2008 at the famed road course – 11 years ago.

“We had good strategy and good pit stops, good everything,” Newman said. “We just didn’t quite have the speed to be able to get up there and pass those guys that were in front today.”

He’s equally as hopeful about the upcoming summer months – having earned half of his career 18 victory total at tracks in this next 10-race stretch of venues. And the winning has been diverse. He’s won at six of the tracks – three times at New Hampshire, twice at Michigan and once at Daytona, Indianapolis, Chicago and Pocono.

Of course with 83 trophies and seven series championships in his wheelhouse, Johnson cannot be counted out to qualify for the playoffs either. He is hoping to break a two-year-plus winless streak and surely likes his chances. He’s a former multi-time winner at Daytona, New Hampshire, Pocono, Bristol, Darlington and Indianapolis. He has a win at Michigan too. This week’s venue in Chicago, plus Kentucky (July 14) and Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Aug. 4) are the only tracks on the entire schedule where he’s yet to celebrate in winner’s circle.

Jones would be understandably enthusiastic about his summer slate. He scored his first career Cup win last July in the Daytona summer night race. And 11 of his career 18 top-five finishes have come at tracks in the calendar’s next 10-race stretch. He was runner-up at Bristol, Tenn. in the summer of 2017, leading 260 laps and he was runner-up at Indianapolis’s Brickyard 400 just last year. His four top-fives this season is already nearly half his career best season total (nine) set last year.

“It was good,” Jones said following his eighth place effort on Sunday at Sonoma. “We passed a lot of cars. I am just happy we were able to come out of here with a solid day.

“Wish we could have gotten some more stage points, but it was nice to get a good finish.”

And, he added: “We just needed track position. I think we were probably a few spots better than that, but it’s still good. It’s nice to get back on track. Hopefully this is good momentum for next week in Chicago.”

Posted on by ISC Official Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 20, 2019) — International Speedway Corporation (“ISC”) announced today its Proud Partner status with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (Vet Tix), an organization providing event tickets through its Tickets for Troops program to all branches of currently serving military and veterans, including immediate family of troops killed in action. ISC’s Proud Partner designation spans across its 12 motorsports entertainment facilities throughout the U.S. that host NASCAR events.

“Patriotism in our sport runs deep and this is just another way that we can thank and honor our military members,” said Frank Kelleher, ISC VP, Sales and Marketing. “NASCAR embraces families and we look forward to helping military and veterans strengthen those family bonds with race experiences.”

ISC’s partnership includes hosting military service members and veterans and providing unique event experiences for them as well as at-track activation beginning with Chicagoland Speedway and its Camping World 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on June 30, and running through the DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February 2020.  Through the agreement, ISC tracks will participate in a social media campaign where fans may nominate a military member to win a race day experience.

“We are very excited for our military and veterans to experience NASCAR racing at ISC’s tracks,” said Mike Focareto, Founder and CEO, Vet Tix. “We have been connected to motorsports for many years and currently enjoy a great relationship with Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Kurt Busch and his KB100 Ticket Giveaway. This is just another way we can further our mission to help service members and veterans to reduce stress, encourage community building and build life-long memories.”

Vet Tix is a national 501(c) (3) which has provided over six million event tickets to more than one million members. The nonprofit organization spends over 95 percent back on its programs, giving back to those who have given so much. To learn more or to donate, please visit VetTix.org or 1stTix.org.

NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola, the NASCAR industry’s expression of respect, appreciation and reverence for members of the U.S. Armed Forces past and present, continues with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, June 30 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, July 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

SONOMA, Calif. – Martin Truex Jr. hit Sonoma Raceway’s pit road on Lap 63, handing the lead to teammate Kyle Busch. Truex re-took it when Busch pitted three laps later.

And, thus, the chase was on.

With 22 laps remaining in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota trailed Truex’s No. 19 by 8.3 seconds – seemingly insurmountable without a caution.

And then it was 6.3 (Lap 71).

Then 4.3 (Lap 73) …

… 3.1 (Lap 75)

… 1.9 (Lap 78).

The caution never flew, but Busch got to within 1.5 seconds of Truex with 10 laps remaining and appeared set to run down his equally talented, equally competitive teammate.

But this is Martin Truex Jr. we’re talking about. Late-race mistakes aren’t exactly part of his repertoire.

The No. 18 managed to get within 1.3 seconds of Truex – on the final lap – but was unable to reach his teammate’s bumper to even think about making a move, with the 2017 champ wheeling it flawlessly on the final run of the race to hold off perhaps his best competition going these days. The win was Truex’s fourth of the season and second in a row at the road course.

MORE: Truex holds off Busch for Sonoma win | Full results

“He was beating us pretty good there for a while. I just had to try to manage my car the best I could to not burn the tires off trying to go faster than it wanted to go,” Truex said. “I knew if we could just maintain a decent gap for long enough, we would start to equal out. With 10 to go, we were equaling lap times. From there, all right, you got to run 10 perfect laps and not screw up. Was able to do that fortunately and hang onto it.”

Despite the unsatisfying second-place run, Busch was in an upbeat mood – a quick post-race, self-dousing with a water bottle in the 90-plus-degree temps certainly helped there – joking about his disdain for getting beat by his teammate.

“I hate him,” Busch quipped with a wide, toothy grin on pit road following the race. “I mean, yeah, I guess you could say there’s sibling rivalries, there’s teammate rivalries, whatever you want to call it. Truex and I, we’ve always had a good relationship with one another, ever since the (Xfinity) Series days when we were rookies together … now he’s on my team and I know he’s got the same stuff, so no excuses.

“ … He’s one of the best here. Year in, year out he’s kind of the guy to beat. Last few years he’s been the guy to beat.”

RELATED: All of Truex Jr.’s career wins | All-time road course winners

With fellow “Big 3” member Kevin Harvick still winless as the season reaches its halfway point, the top tier of talent thus far in 2019 firmly lies with the pair of former champions.

At this point, it’s hard to envision both of them not making runs all the way to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, pushing each other hard as months tick off the calendar. You have to go back to 2016 for the last time both weren’t racing for the title, and 2014 for the last time neither was. They’re even better now.

The friendly rivalry will burn slowly all year before it all gets put on the line.

They’re good with it.

“I consider anyone that you have to beat to win races and championships a rivalry. I think it’s a good rivalry,” Truex said. “We’re obviously teammates. … We’ve known each other a long time. We’ve been racing together a long time. We’ve raced each other really hard, but with respect. I think that’s part of what’s made us good teammates is that we have that mutual respect for each other.

“Kyle hates to lose. Everybody knows kind of how he is. For me, to me, he’s just been an amazing teammate. He’s really smart about his race car, gives great information, helps the team make the cars better. We’re all better for it. … We have that mutual respect where we know we’re both fast, we both have great teams, we can push each other to be better. It really elevates the whole company. We race hard as we can possibly race on the race track and respect each other off it. It works out pretty good.”

The pair has now combined to win exactly half – four apiece – of the season’s 16 races thus far, with no signs of slowing. In fact, they might even be getting stronger.

As the arms race between teammates continues as the regular season winds down and playoff season ramps up, it’s evident they’re going to continue to pile up wins.

Only question now – do they keep score?

“I don’t. I don’t know if he does. I do know they told me in Victory Lane we have finished 1‑2 seven times (in our careers). I beat him four out of the seven, so I got the upper hand right now. I had no idea till they told me that.

“No, I don’t keep track of it. I don’t know if he does or not. He might,” Truex joked.

RELATED: Every  1-2 finish from Busch and Truex Jr.

As the series now shifts to next weekend’s Chicagoland Speedway – where Busch and Truex have combined to win the past three races – it’s all knotted up.

Game on.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. — Even though he ran a distant third to Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney’s fortunes at Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series road courses have been looking up.

In last year’s playoffs, Blaney won at the Charlotte Roval after Truex and Jimmie Johnson collided in the final chicane. And in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, he enjoyed a stress-free race running behind the leading pair of Truex and Kyle Busch.

“Kind of smooth day for us,” acknowledged Blaney, who leaves the 2.52-mile road course ninth in the series standings and well inside the playoff cut line. “Qualified decent. The way the stages are, you can either choose to finish the stage out, get stage points, but you have to restart way in the middle of the pack.

“Or (you can) pit early. That’s kind of the strategy we wanted to do.”

RELATED: Official race results

Sacrificing stage points by pitting early proved beneficial at the end of the race.

“Today, even though you hate giving up stage points, you just get yourself ahead of all the mess,” said Blaney, who finished more than 33 seconds behind the race winner. “You can kind of get in your own rhythm, do your own thing, not have to worry about someone behind you and in front of you all the time.

“A real decent day for the PPG Ford Mustang. Those top two guys were just gone. All the Gibbs cars looked pretty good. They got something figured out.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The race-winning Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. has passed post-race inspection at Sonoma Raceway with no issues.

The No. 19 Toyota was found to be compliant with the 2019 NASCAR Rule Book after Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. No other issues were reported from technical inspection or the post-race lug-nut check.

With the post-race teardown complete, the race results are official.

RELATED: Official race results | Truex repeats at Sonoma

The post-race process is part of a new, more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced in February that thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions — “a total culture change,” according to Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. In the past, race-winning teams found in violation of the rules were penalized with post-race fines, points deductions and/or suspensions, but victories were allowed to stand.

Competition officials introduced the quicker post-race inspection timetable in an effort to make the results official on race day, aiming for a 90-minute target time frame to complete their scrutineering. The new post-race inspection process was also designed to deal with potential violations more promptly, avoiding any midweek news that might cloud the previous week’s results or the build-up to the following week’s event.

NASCAR will still inspect cars and parts at the R&D Center as needed, but the more comprehensive at-track inspection will take priority.

The first NASCAR national-series organization to run afoul of the new inspection system was Niece Motorsports, which absorbed a disqualification on June 16, stripping Ross Chastain’s No. 44 of an apparent Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory at Iowa Speedway. The first-finishing Niece truck failed to meet the minimum ride height, an infraction that was upheld after an appeal.

According to NASCAR statistical archives, the last time a premier series driver was disqualified occurred in 1973, when early retiree Buddy Baker was demoted to last place in the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The last time an apparent race winner in NASCAR’s top division was disqualified came on April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank on his No. 85 Chevrolet.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – In the last 11 laps of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, Matt DiBenedetto passed seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson for fifth place and 2014 champion Kevin Harvick for fourth.

When the race ended, the driver of the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota was closing on third-place finisher Ryan Blaney before running out of laps. But DiBenedetto nevertheless scored the best result of his career, eclipsing the sixth he posted at Bristol on April 17, 2016.

RELATED: Official race results

“I’m just so lucky to be doing this,” an elated DiBenedetto said after the race. “My path to get here has been so out of the ordinary and old-school, and I’m so thankful. I can’t tell you how many people took a chance on me to have this opportunity.”

One of those people was the late J.D. Gibbs, the former president of Joe Gibbs Racing who was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame on Thursday night.

“It was so much fun — my home state,” DiBenedetto said of his run. “This one is for my buddy, AJ Allmendinger, for helping me so much.”

DiBenedetto also had some parting words for NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, who on Sunday at Sonoma called his last race as an analyst for FOX Sports. DiBenedetto drove a throwback No. 95 Toyota with a retro design to honor one of Darrell Waltrip’s earliest rides.

“DW, this one’s for you, brother,” DiBenedetto said. “I’m glad we got you a good finish. You’ve done so much for me. You’re the best.”

DiBenedetto’s first top-five finish came in his 156th premier series start. The 27-year-old driver’s personal best helped to stem some of the rough patches in his first season with Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 operation.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – Dominant in defense of last year’s victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. held off Kyle Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, to win Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway.

With three-lap fresher tires after the final set of green-flag pit stops at the 2.52-mile road course — which for the first time since 1997 featured use of the carousel connecting Turns 4 and 7 — Busch closed an 8.269-second gap to slightly more than a second over the last 24 laps.

But the driver of the No. 18 Toyota could get no closer, given that Truex’s No. 19 Camry had better drive off the corners at the 12-turn course and was able to keep Busch at bay. Truex led three times for 59 of the 90 laps, including the final 24.

RELATED: Official race results
SHOP: Truex gear

“I just dug down deep and tried to be smooth and hit my marks,” said Truex, who won for the fourth time this season — all in the last eight races — the third time at Sonoma (including two straight, and with three different car owners) and the 23rd time in his career. “Luckily I began with a big enough gap where I could get away and not feel too much pressure.

“It was definitely a battle going on, as far as the race there at the end for us on tires. It felt terrible the last 20 laps. The last 10 it just felt like it was on ice — just no grip anywhere. I’m really proud of all these guys and everyone on this team and everyone back at JGR.

“What a season we’ve turned this into. This is great, man, unbelievable. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Joe Gibbs Racing has won 10 of the first 16 races this season. Truex, who moved from now-defunct Furniture Row Racing to JGR this year, has now posted at least four victories in four straight seasons, including the current one.

And with Matt DiBenedetto running a career-best fourth and Stage 2 winner Denny Hamlin driving from 26th to fifth in the final stage of the race after pitting during the second break, Toyota placed four drivers in the top five. The only interloper was third-place Ryan Blaney in a Team Penske Ford.

With four laps left, Busch had trimmed Truex’s advantage to 1.542 seconds, but Truex ultimately expanded the edge to 1.861 seconds at the finish.

WATCH: Busch ‘pumped’ with second

“Yeah, 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, ‘OK, 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 real hard. … 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.”

Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman claimed the sixth and seventh spots. Erik Jones, who started from the rear of the field after his team made repairs to the left rear quarter of his car post-qualifying, was eighth in the fourth JGR Toyota.

Aric Almirola and polesitter Kyle Larson completed the top 10. The winner of three straight poles at Sonoma, Larson posted his best finish at the road course.

The race ran caution-free, except for the two stage breaks. Front-row starter William Byron grabbed the lead from Larson on the first lap and won the stage wire-to-wire, but he lost track position while pitting under caution during the stage break and finished 19th.

Posted on by Staff Report

Chase Elliott’s hopes for a Sonoma Raceway victory hit a final-stage snag Sunday as his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet lost power and went behind the wall for diagnosis.

Elliott had led three laps and was scored in third place behind race leader Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 60 of the 90-lap race, when he reported “blew up, blew up” as he coasted down pit road. His No. 9 crew raised the hood and performed some cursory checks before pushing the car to the garage, out of the race for good.

RELATED: Full race results

“I don’t know. I don’t think I missed any shifts or anything,” Elliott told his team on the radio, saying that the car had not shown any abnormal signs before its mechanical issue. Bill Elliott, his Hall of Fame father, was on spotter duty for the team this weekend and reported that the car had misfired on the final time past his location.

“We lost oil pressure but there is no oil leaking, so it must have been a belt, I guess,” Elliott said later. “And obviously when that happens, you’re not getting oil so things are going to not work when they’re not being loosened up and have oil to work with. I’ve been with Hendrick Motorsports for a number of years now running their engines, and I think this is the second time we ever broke one. So, I’ll take those odds all day long.”

Eight laps after Elliott pulled off the track, the team informed primary spotter Eddie D’Hondt that the No. 9 was done for the day in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Elliott had finished in the top 10 in the past two Sonoma races, but was 37th Sunday, losing ground in the standings as a result.

Elliott has virtually clinched a spot in the 16-driver playoff field with his victory in April at Talladega Superspeedway.