Martin Truex Jr. scores fourth Sonoma win

Denny Hamlin started on the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway, but a late wreck led to him being the lone retirement. Still, Joe Gibbs Racing had reason to celebrate as his team-mate Martin Truex Jr. completed a dominant day by leading the final fifteen laps following the caution for Hamlin’s crash to score his second win of 2023.

Truex led 53 of 110 laps and held off former JGR driver and last week’s winner Kyle Busch for his fourth win at Sonoma; previous victories came in 2013, 2018, and 2019. Much of Truex’s strong day could be attributed to Sonoma being a technical track without much room for aggression, clean air, and the road course-only lack of cautions for stage breaks.

“It’s tough to pass here, always has been,” said Truex. “There’s only two really good passing zones. Even those are difficult sometimes to get it set up right with a guy, even if he has a little bit older tires. You try to pressure a guy, make him slip somewhere and find an opening. It’s definitely hard to pass.

“Clean air is obviously a big deal. I don’t think it was as bad as last year by any means with the package we have now, with the short track package. I think it was a little bit better than last year, for sure. I could run close to guys. You just lose a little bit of grip. At a track where you’re just sliding all the time, you don’t have much grip to begin with, it makes it tough. But I think for us being the leader, being able to drive away, our car was that good. I could manage tyres easier, not have to run as hard to lead. It always kind of makes the lead look bigger and easier than it is.”

Hamlin led the first thirty-two laps and won Stage #1, but spun across the start/finish line while following William Byron, explaining he “I went to turn left to try to peak under him, and the wall was there.” The crash relegated him to a dubious last after winning the pole at Sonoma for the first time in his career; it was also his second road course pole after Watkins Glen in 2018.

One spot ahead of Hamlin, the lone road course specialist in the field Andy Lally finished thirty-fifth in his first start of the year for Rick Ware Racing.

Aric Almirola, who surprised by winning the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, struggled to a twenty-eighth in a difficult day for Stewart-Haas Racing. Kevin Harvick was the team’s best finisher in eleventh.

With Noah Gragson out due to a concussion, Grant Enfinger made his Cup début in the #42 Legacy Motor Club machine and placed twenty-sixth.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	8	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	110	Running
2	12	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	110	Running
3	17	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	110	Running
4	7	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	110	Running
5	10	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
6	5	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	110	Running
7	3	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	110	Running
8	16	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
9	4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	110	Running
10	15	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	110	Running
11	21	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	110	Running
12	13	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	110	Running
13	22	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	110	Running
14	26	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
15	14	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
16	25	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	110	Running
17	18	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	110	Running
18	6	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	110	Running
19	11	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	110	Running
20	19	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
21	23	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	110	Running
22	9	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	110	Running
23	27	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
24	32	51	Todd Gilliland	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	110	Running
25	34	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	110	Running
26	35	42	Grant Enfinger*	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	110	Running
27	36	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	110	Running
28	20	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	110	Running
29	24	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	110	Running
30	29	78	Josh Bilicki*	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	Running
31	31	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	110	Running
32	28	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	109	Running
33	2	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	109	Running
34	30	38	Zane Smith*	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	109	Running
35	33	15	Andy Lally	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	109	Running
36	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	92	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points