NASCAR
Kyle Larson Wins Sonoma, Third Victory of Year and 20th at Hendrick
SONOMA, Calif. – Sunday’s Sonoma race was largely dominated by hometown heroes. After starting second, Tyler Reddick was the class of the field for the first half. The second half would be largely dominated by Kyle Larson though, who made up 12 seconds over 30 laps to take the victory. Larson’s Team Hendrick tenure now includes 20 checkered flags, third-most by any driver at HMS. Larson’s trifecta of 2024 wins is also tied for the series-best, on a day where the No. 5 retakes the points lead.
Tyler Reddick won Stage 1, his first ever laps led at his home track. This opening stint would see day-ending issues prevail for Toyotas of Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs.
The Corning, California native restarted with the lead, only to pit late in Stage 2. This second Stage would be won by Chris Buescher.
After beating up his tires racing aggressively with Kyle Larson, Reddick would be an afterthought for the rest of the day. The No. 5 initially cycled to the lead on lap 71, only to pit 10 laps later.
Larson would rejoin the race far behind Chris Buescher, who pitted a few laps prior. Thanks to Buescher’s older tires, the 5 quickly caught the 17, erasing a 12-second gap. Larson made the winning pass with nine laps left, having to then fight off Martin Truex Jr. The No. 19’s fuel tank would run dry on the last lap however, allowing Larson to cruise to a four-second win.
“Yeah, I didn’t know what we were doing as far as strategy,” Larson said. “I was just out there banging laps away. We study all the strategy, but it’s like doing homework. I don’t really know what I’m looking at.”
“I was like, well, man, these guys are going to have to pit another time maybe. Then we said we had to go race and pass these guys, I got a bit nervous. 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.”
“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.”
“Just an awesome, awesome racecar. Valvoline, every time we have Valvoline on the car, I feel like we’re really fast. Thanks to Valvoline, Hendrickcars.com, Chevrolet, Jinya Ramen Bar, Prime, too.”
“Just cool to win at home, drink some wine here in a little bit and go celebrate.”
A distant second behind Larson would be road course ace Michael McDowell. The No. 34 just got by Chris Buescher in the closing laps. Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain were fourth and fifth respectively. AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Todd Gilliland were the top-10.
Sonoma marks career win number 26 for Larson, tying Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Jr and Fred Lorenzen for 32nd most all-time victories. Larson’s 20 wins since joining Team Hendrick also only trails Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson’s totals.
The NASCAR Cup Series welcomes back NBC Sports with an inaugural race next week. The first ever Iowa Corn 350 goes green from Iowa Speedway Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Many drivers have past laps on Iowa from Xfinity or Trucks. The Next Gen car and a new surface are two huge unknowns heading into Sunday however.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
