California kid Kyle Larson wins again in Sonoma
SONOMA, Cali. — Everything worked just right for California kid Kyle Larson to get his second NASCAR Cup Series win at Sonoma Raceway.
Kyle Larson picked up his third win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and the 26th of his career Sunday at his home track. Larson grew up just under two hours away in Elk Grove, Cali.
“Just cool to win at home, drink some wine here in a little bit and go celebrate,” Larson said.
TOP-10: Larson, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Todd Gilliland
Martin Truex Jr. finished 27th after running second to Larson at the white flag. After pitting for the final time on lap 81 of 110, Larson ran 10 seconds behind Truex. Truex was stuck behind Chris Buescher as Larson eventually closed to be on Truex’s bumper with about 17 laps to go.
The top three were bumper-to-bumper-to-bumper until Buescher made a mistake with nine laps to go. Truex and Larson got by and went 1-2. Then, Larson passed Truex for the lead and the win after Truex made a mistake of his own.
“Thankful that we had enough grip. Thankful, too, that those guys got racing and Martin never got clear really to where I could get stuck in third and that really saved the race. I thought, too, once he got the lead, I’m like, man, I hope he doesn’t have somebody to judge off of here into 4 and he misses apex, and sure enough, he did, and I had a big run,” Larson said post-race.
Truex fell two seconds behind Larson as they took the white flag. Coming into the final corner, the car bobbled and ran out of gas. Remarkably, he made it back to the checkered flag, finishing 125 seconds behind Larson in 27th.
“I’m not sure why we didn’t try to save a little at the end. I was clearly not going to catch the 5 or pass him. It’s a shame that we went around the last corner and went from second to wherever we finished. It sucks, but it was a tough day, and we had a good car. We battled and did a good job. We were going to have a good day, but just one corner short,” Truex said.
Truex is comfortably in a playoff spot at +128 points to the cutline, ahead of Kyle Busch who had an even more heartbreaking final lap than Truex.
Busch was running fifth, tied with Bubba Wallace in points at the cutline. As Busch battled Ross Chastain, Chastain overdrove turn five and spun Busch.
Busch got back up to speed and ran 11th. Despite running out of fuel in turn 11, Busch finished 12th as NASCAR threw the caution for Truex which froze the field. Busch sits -8 points to the cutline after entering the day at -20.
Eight cautions fell in the first two stages that encompassed the first half of the race.
Stage one
The first caution fell for Denny Hamlin blowing an engine on lap 2. The race went green from laps 7 to 16, when Ty Gibbs hit the newly-installed inside wall in turn 11. That broke the upper control arm and a shock, ending his day.
With Gibbs and Hamlin finishing 37th and 38th, Joe Gibbs Racing cars filled the final two finishing spots.
During the caution for Gibbs, Joey Logano pitted after leading the first 16 laps. That put him right in the middle of a wreck also involving Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on lap 20.
Logano was never heard from again as a serious contender. Tyler Reddick took over and led 17 laps, taking the field to the end of stage one.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 25): Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland
The cautions didn’t end here, however.
Stage two
After just four laps of green-flag racing, on lap 33, Repco Supercars guest Will Brown pulled off track exiting turn 11 with an electrical fire behind the killswitch. When the caution flew for him, Brown re-entered the track entering turn 11 and came to pit road. NASCAR officials held him for a lap for cutting the course.
That caution set up the wildest incident of the day. As Bubba Wallace went of course exiting turn 10, Josh Berry reacted, cutting to the right. That caused Erik Jones to bump him, sending him straight into the pack ahead of him in turn 11.
Berry collected Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Cam Waters and Martin Truex Jr. in the wreck on lap 36.
With six cautions in the bag already, there was seventh drawn for Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell and Noah Gragson wrecking in turn 8A on lap 41.
As stage two drew to a close, the top seven drivers hadn’t pitted yet: Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez.
Blaney, Elliott and Suarez pitted on lap 50. Then Larson, Chastain and Bowman pitted on lap 51 before Reddick pitted on lap 52.
Larson took control of the race from Reddick. He ended the stage in 21st while Chastain, Reddick, Suarez, Elliott and Bowman ran 23rd-27th with Blaney in 29th, respectively.
STAGE TWO TOP-10: Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, Gilliland, Joey Logano, Harrison Burton
Stage three
Larson moved forward, jumping from 21st on lap 60 to 11th when green-flag pit stops began. Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Michael McDowell kicked off stops on lap 67. Then, AJ Allmendinger and Ross Chastain pitted seven laps later, handing the lead to Larson on lap 70.
Crew chief Cliff Daniels kept Larson out for 10 laps, hoping to gain an advantage on tires after they pitted. They pitted on lap 80 and exited pit road on lap 81 with tires 13 laps fresher than Buescher and Truex who ran 1-2.
Larson ran fifth, 10 seconds behind them. He was running a second faster with 29 laps to go. He eventually took the lead with eight laps to go.
Coming to the white flag, it was Larson, Truex, McDowell, Buescher, Busch, Chastain, Elliott, Allmendinger, Blaney and Reddick. Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie and Keselowski slipped to 12th-14th.
Everyone gained a spot on the final lap with Truex and Busch having issues. LaJoie and Keselowski finished 11th and 12th.
Nothing had anything for Larson, who won at Sonoma Raceway for the first time since 2021.
NASCAR Cup Series Points after Sonoma
Kyle Larson has retaken the points lead by 14 points over teammate Chase Elliott and 26 points over Denny Hamlin who held the lead coming into Sonoma.
Chris Buescher is now +32 points to the cutline. Bubba Wallace sits on the cutline, ahead of Kyle Busch by eight points, Joey Logano by 16 points and Chase Briscoe by 27 points. There are 10 races left until the playoffs begin.
The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to Iowa Speedway for the inaugural Cup Series race there. The Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol goes green Sunday, June 16, Father’s Day, just after 7 p.m. ET (USA, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com