Japanese vehicle manufacturer Toyota has signed a three-year agreement to remain as the co-title sponsor of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Nascar Sprint Cup Series race at the Sonoma Raceway.
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The win was Stewart’s third at Sonoma (2001, 05) and 49th overall in 598 Sprint Cup starts. The runner-up finish was his fifth Top 5 of the season, and Hamlin climbed two spots to 11th in the standings as a result. He didn’t have to remind Stewart afterward.
“When he went into 11”, Stewart said, “I was probably more surprised than anybody”.
“For two guys (with crew chief Mike Bugaerwicz), for a brand-new crew chief and driver combination, didn’t get a chance to work with each other until the ninth or tenth race, I feel like we’re gaining ground here, and I’m proud of those guys”.
Dozens of drivers then pumped their fists out their window to salute Stewart on his victory lap. He held on to it almost the rest of the way before Hamlin bumped him in Turn 7 to pass him on the last lap.
“I don’t think he was going to leave it to chance or a drag race coming off Turn 11”. Truex, though, took second from Hamlin when the race returned to green and pressured Stewart for the lead.
It was an important win for Stewart, who is retiring at the end of the year, and for NASCAR, which needs its biggest stars in the spotlight. I’m sure a wire was rubbing on something and just shorted out and burned up.
“We were running in the middle of the pack (17th place) when that caution came out”, said Stewart. “But I’ve felt like if we got things right, that it was still there”.
The driver noted it himself in a pre-race interview with Fox Sports, when he said after his retirement in November – in the wake of Jeff Gordon’s retirement a year ago – there would be no one left in the sport that was willing to take a stand.
There was plenty of love for Stewart following the race.
Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health, her family issued a statement asking for prayers and saying that the 64-year-old Summitt is surrounded by the people who mean the most to her. It also asked for privacy.
It was Bugarewicz’s first as crew chief.
“To have three cars in the Chase, to have Tony’s confidence up, to have him battle Denny Hamlin like that this is the best way for a champion like him to go out”, teammate Kurt Busch said. “It’s terribly frustrating. This is my favorite race track, and I’ve run really good at it”. I just overshot the corner a little bit.
There’s always been an ongoing debate inside our sport and honestly within my own mind about whether we need to have more road course races and/or even a road course race in the Chase. His auto appeared to shake under braking, but Hamlin said he didn’t wheel hop it. He held off initial pressure from Truex and built a respectable lead over the first ten laps, but by that point Hamlin had moved into second, where he had no interest in staying. Edwards was able to beat Allmendinger off pit road, and after everyone else in the race field pitted, Edwards cycled back to the lead by lap 31.
On Saturday afternoon, in the pounding heat of the Sonoma Raceway garage area, Nelson Stewart was the center of attention at the rear of the No. 14 team hauler.
Clint Bowyer, who won here in 2012, had an electrical fire under his dashboard and had to abandon his auto after five laps.
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If that sounds familiar, it’s because a similar scenario happened a year ago.
