Kyle Larson charged through the field to claim his third win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season Sunday, June 9.
Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr. battled hard for the top spot most of the final stage, but Larson’s fresher tires were the key to victory.
“We said we had to go race and pass those guys; I got a bit nervous,” Larson told FOX Sports. “I knew I’d be quick from the get-go, but I thought once the tires would come up to temp it would even off too much.”
Michael McDowell, Buescher, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain completed the top five, while AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top 10.
Truex would have finished in second, but coming out of the final turn he ran out of fuel, ultimately finishing 27th.
The Toyota/Save Mart 350 ran under chaos from the moment the green flag flew. On lap 2 Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11 Toyota suffered an engine failure, taking Hamlin out of contention in Sonoma for the second year in a row.
The caution flew on lap 15 following a front tire lock up by Ty Gibbs. Gibbs smacked the right front quarter panel of his No. 54 Toyota into the wall, ending his day.
Only three laps later, Chase Briscoe got tight through the esses, spinning through the middle of the pack and collecting Ricky Stenhouse Jr., pole-sitter Joey Logano and Harrison Burton.
Reddick held off Blaney to take the stage 1 win over a bumper-to-bumper top five consisting of Larson, Elliott and Alex Bowman. McDowell, Chastain, Daniel Suárez, Corey LaJoie and Gilliland completed the top 10.
The chaos recommenced with the fourth caution for cause after Australian SuperCar driver Will Brown, making his Cup debut, came to a stop citing an electrical fire under the dash.
Not but three laps later, the caution flag flew after Josh Berry drove deep into turn 11, collecting Truex, John Hunter Nemechek, Bell, Austin Dillon and Australian SuperCar driver Cam Waters, like Brown making his Cup debut.
When the racing continued, the field ran three laps under green until last week’s winner Austin Cindric, McDowell and Noah Gragson slid off the track and into a tire barrier.
The remainder of stage two stayed free of cautions, with…
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