Practice

Toyota / Save Mart 350

Sunday, June 11th, 2023

Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, CA

  • 16 Chevrolet
  • 14 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Sonoma Raceway
  • Toyota / Save Mart 350
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Denny Hamlin
  • Age: 42
  • Team : No. 11 - Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Christopher Gabehart
  • Denny Hamlin won the Pole Award for the Toyota / Save Mart 350 with a lap of 77.719 seconds, 92.178 mph.
  • This is his 38th pole in 630 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his second pole and seventh top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his first pole in 17 races at Sonoma Raceway.
  • Tyler Reddick (second) posted his ninth top-10 start of 2023 and his third in three races at Sonoma Raceway.
  • Michael McDowell (third) posted his second top-10 start at Sonoma Raceway. It is his second in 16 races this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (sixth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, June 11th, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Martin Truex Jr. picks up fourth Sonoma victory in dominating fashion

What a difference a year makes.

After struggling mightily last year at Sonoma Raceway in the debut season for NASCAR’s Next Gen car, Martin Truex Jr. pulled off a dominating 180-degree turnaround in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Overcoming an inopportune caution and leading a race-high 51 of 110 laps, Truex scored his second victory of the season and his fourth at the 1.99-mile road course, most among active drivers and second only to Jeff Gordon’s five in track history.

Truex’s 33rd career victory, by a 2.979-second margin over runner-up Kyle Busch, was a far cry from last season’s lackluster performance, when Truex started 28th and finished 26th.

“Hats off to my team,” said Truex, who was winless in the 2022 campaign. “To be so bad here last year and to come back and do that with the same car basically, it’s really unbelievable. Just proud of them. We’re having a great year. I feel really good about our team…

“Man, it just feels incredible to have a day like that and a run like that and a team like I have. They’re doing everything right, and it’s a lot of fun to drive these cars… This is why you go through years like we had last year. You just keep fighting. You never give up on it. You always believe in each other.

“We haven’t changed anything on our team other than parts and pieces. It’s just through a lot of hard work of a lot of people.”

On Lap 33, Truex passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and pole winner Denny Hamlin for the top spot, after Hamlin led the first 32 laps and won the race’s first stage. For the next 18 laps, it appeared that Truex and Hamlin would deliver a 1-2 punch to the rest of the field.

That was before a tire from Zane Smith’s Ford bounced off the inside pit wall into the middle of pit road on Lap 50. The resulting caution turned the race upside down and handed the lead to Busch, who had pitted seven laps before the yellow.

Busch won the second stage—his second stage victory of the season—but Truex caught the No. 8 Chevrolet on Lap 69, outbraking Busch into Turn 7 and regaining the lead. Truex pitted on Lap 75 but reclaimed the top spot five laps later and held it until Hamlin hit the wall in Turn 12 on Lap 92, ping-ponged between the two frontstretch barriers and broke the right rear toe link on his Toyota.

Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney stayed out on older tires during the ensuing caution, but Truex made short work of those drivers, retaking the lead off Turn 4 on Lap 97, with Busch following him into the second spot.

Busch chased Truex over the final 14 laps—to no avail.

“I wish we had a little bit more,” said Busch, who won last Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway. “I tried really hard at the end to at least try to keep Martin honest. Felt like I could beat him a little bit on a lap, then I would mess up. He would beat me by a little bit more on the next lap. We were just kind of trading a little bit there. He was able to pull away there late…

“We gave it everything that we had. We made a lot of changes. We got a lucky break there with a yellow with only three laps on tires, so we were able to kind of cycle to the front. Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and have a good top-three speed race car. Just kind of flip-flopped the race a little bit.

“Good fortunes for us. Nice to come out here with a P2 after a win last week.”

Joey Logano finished third, followed by Chris Buescher and Elliott. AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.

Truex leads the series standings by 13 points over William Byron, who finished 14th. Grant Enfinger came home 26th in relief of Noah Gragson, who missed the race because of concussion symptoms deriving from a hard wreck last Sunday at WWT Raceway.

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 110
  • Margin of Victory: 02.979 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 40 Minutes 12 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 81.989
  • Cautions: 2 for 6 laps
  • Lead Changes: 10
  • Green Flag Passes: 2,693 (25.9 passes per green flag lap)

  • Sonoma Raceway
  • Toyota / Save Mart 350
  • Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
  • Age: 42
  • Team : No. 19 - Bass Pro Shops Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: James Small
  • Martin Truex Jr. won the Toyota / Save Mart 350, his 33rd victory in 637 Cup Series races.
  • This is his second victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his fourth victory and seventh top-10 finish in 17 races at Sonoma Raceway.
  • Kyle Busch (second) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 18 races at Sonoma Raceway. It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Joey Logano (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in 14 races at Sonoma Raceway.
  • Ty Gibbs (18th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Martin Truex Jr. leads the point standings by 13 points over William Byron.
Bubba Wallace drives during practice
Sonoma, California - June 10, 2023 : Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DoorDash Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
Logan RielyGetty Images
Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway Practice results
# DRIVER MAKE RNK SPD TME BHND LAP LAPS 5- 10- 15- 20- 25- 30- 10-LAP FRM TO
16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 3 91.020 78.708 0.608 2 10 79.104 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
15 Andy Lally Ford 36 88.132 81.287 3.188 5 10 81.556 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
10 Aric Almirola Ford 34 89.140 80.368 2.269 2 14 80.644 80.768 0 0 0 0 88.699 1 10
6 Brad Keselowski Ford 18 90.096 79.515 1.416 3 11 79.895 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 13 90.456 79.199 1.100 3 14 79.694 80.233 0 0 0 0 89.296 1 10
22 Joey Logano Ford 21 90.000 79.600 1.501 2 11 79.887 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
4 Kevin Harvick Ford 28 89.547 80.003 1.904 3 11 80.826 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
8 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 15 90.312 79.325 1.226 2 10 80.020 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
19 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 2 91.079 78.657 0.557 2 9 79.370 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
34 Michael McDowell Ford 5 90.740 78.951 0.851 3 12 79.265 93.778 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 8 90.610 79.064 0.964 2 12 79.694 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
42 Grant Enfinger Chevrolet 35 88.209 81.216 3.117 10 14 81.662 81.802 0 0 0 0 87.580 4 13
47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 9 90.536 79.129 1.030 2 10 80.147 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1 91.730 78.099 0.000 2 11 78.992 79.745 0 0 0 0 89.847 1 10
48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 11 90.504 79.157 1.058 2 10 79.704 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
12 Ryan Blaney Ford 16 90.280 79.353 1.254 3 10 80.014 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 17 90.275 79.358 1.259 2 12 79.948 94.771 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
77 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 23 89.965 79.631 1.532 2 11 80.783 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 7 90.665 79.016 0.917 2 10 79.348 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
17 Chris Buescher Ford 14 90.379 79.266 1.167 2 12 79.622 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
43 Erik Jones Chevrolet 29 89.497 80.047 1.948 4 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
41 Ryan Preece Ford 31 89.465 80.076 1.977 2 12 80.501 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
99 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 20 90.008 79.593 1.494 6 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 12 90.479 79.179 1.080 2 13 79.552 80.012 0 0 0 0 89.540 1 10
23 Bubba Wallace Toyota 19 90.070 79.538 1.439 2 11 80.135 80.855 0 0 0 0 88.612 1 10
24 William Byron Chevrolet 25 89.940 79.653 1.554 4 10 81.585 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
78 Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 33 89.284 80.238 2.139 6 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
45 Tyler Reddick Toyota 4 90.937 78.780 0.681 2 10 79.638 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
31 Justin Haley Chevrolet 6 90.702 78.984 0.884 2 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
20 Christopher Bell Toyota 22 89.985 79.613 1.514 2 14 79.980 80.427 0 0 0 0 89.079 1 10
2 Austin Cindric Ford 26 89.939 79.654 1.555 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
14 Chase Briscoe Ford 24 89.948 79.646 1.547 2 10 80.044 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
21 Harrison Burton Ford 32 89.439 80.099 2.000 3 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
38 Zane Smith Ford 30 89.491 80.053 1.954 2 13 80.480 80.904 0 0 0 0 88.553 1 10
54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 10 90.528 79.136 1.037 2 9 79.600 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
51 Todd Gilliland Ford 27 89.902 79.687 1.588 2 10 80.418 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0