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Kyle Larson Rides Tire Strategy to the Front; Wins Sonoma
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Kyle Larson Rides Tire Strategy to the Front; Wins Sonoma
Heading into this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway, Kyle Larson had the opportunity to tie a legend. If he were to get the pole for Sunday's race, he would tie Jeff Gordon for the most pole's at Sonoma Raceway with five. Kyle Larson has won the pole at his home track in 2021, 2019, 2018, and 2017.
When it comes to Sonoma, and the limited amount of spots on the course there is to pass, qualifying toward the front is almost imperative. Of the previous 34 Cup races at Sonoma Raceway, only two winners have come from outside of the top-15 starting positions. The best starting position to win from is also from the pole (6 wins). And the last driver to win from the pole position? Kyle Larson, back in 2021.
And with all of that being said, Kyle Larson didn't win the pole, Joey Logano did. But he did have a strong qualifying round, and started on the inside of the third row, P5.
Joey Logano would start the race up front, and manage to lead a total of 16 laps, but pitted on what I would assume to be some type of early tire strategy. Unfortunately, almost nobody followed him into the pits for drivers inside the top 20.
The biggest problem with trying to make your way back up front from the back half of the field, is if there is any type of incident, you have a very good shot at being caught up in it. And that's exactly what happened to Logano.
On lap 18, a spinning Chase Briscoe (#14) would cause damage to Logano's right side, just in front of the rear tire. Logano would finish the race P21.
Once the Green Flag flew with just a couple laps left before the end of Stage 1, it was Tyler Reddick (#45) holding off Ryan Blaney (#12) for the stage win followed by Larson (#5), Chase Elliott (#9), Alex Bowman (#48), Michael McDowell (#34), Ross Chastain (#1), Daniel Suarez (#99), Corey Lajoie (#7), and Todd Gilliland (#38).
Once the pits opened, the top-16 drivers stayed out, with Kyle Busch (#8), and Martin Truex Jr. (#19) being the first to head into the pits.
For the majority of Stage 2, it was the Tyler Reddick (#45) show. He would finally pit for the first time, after giving up the lead on lap 54, jumping into the pits just before they closed.
Chris Buescher (#17) would take over the lead and win Stage 2, followed by Ryan Preece (#41), Martin Truex, Jr. (#19), Kyle Busch (#8), AJ Allmendinger (#16), Brad Keselowski (#6), Erik Jones (#43), Todd Gilliland (#38), Joey Logano (#22), and Jeb Burton (#21).
Buescher (#17) would actually be the first to pit when the pit window opened around lap 69. Martin Truex, Jr. (#19), Kyle Busch (#8), Michael McDowell (#16), and Joey Logano (#22) would follow suit and complete their final pit stop of the 110 lap race.
As of lap 75, it would be Kyle Larson (#5) with the lead, followed by Chase Elliott (#9), Corey Lajoie (#7), Ryan Blaney (#12), and Kaz Grala (#15) rounding out the top 6, all of whom still needed to make their final pit stop.
Larson (#5) would finally make his final pit stop on lap 82, giving the lead up to Chase Elliott (#9), followed by Corey Lajoie (#7). Both of those drivers still needed to pit.
They were followed by Chris Buescher (#17), Martin Truex, Jr. (#19), Kyle Busch (#8), AJ Allmendinger (#16), and Michael McDowell (#34).
Chase Elliott and Corey Lajoie would both pit with 27 laps remaining on lap 84.
Chris Buescher (#17) would take over the lead once Elliott (#9) and Lajoie (#7) went to the pits. He would be a full 8 seconds ahead of Kyle Larson (#5), who was currently in 6th position and gaining fast on his fresher tires.
Martin Truex Jr. (#19) would finally get by Buescher (#17) on lap 200. But due to having to battle him for a few laps before finally getting by him, he gave Larson (#5) the opportunity to move up behind them, and Larson passed both cars on lap 102 to take back the lead.
Kyle Larson (#5) would finish the race as the winner, his third win of the season. He would be followed by Michael McDowell (#34), Chris Buescher (#17), Chase Elliott (#9), and Ross Chastain (#1). Chastain would take out Kyle Busch (#8) after over-driving one of the final turns. Busch would end up finishing in 12th position after pretty much locking in a solid top-10 finish prior to being knocked off course by Chastain's inability to find his break pedal. But he's "never" been known to do that on the final lap....ever (heavy sarcasm implied).
Martin Truex Jr. would end up running out of gas heading into one of the final turns and slowly (like...SLOOOOOWWWLY) crept toward the start/finish line, finishing in 27th position.
Other notable finishers were Cam Waters (#60), who finished 35th, and Will Brown (#33) who finished 31st. The two Australian drivers made their Cup Series debut. Denny Hamlin (#11), Ty Gibbs (#54), and Austin Dillon (#3) were all out early due to different issues. Hamlin went out with an engine problem after just two laps. Gibbs hit the inside wall with his right front, causing himself to wreck on lap 10. And Dillon also went out on lap 16.
The "biggest mover of the race" was Chris Buescher (#17) who started back in 26th position and finished in third. The "biggest dropper of the race" belonged to Ty Gibbs (#54). He started in 10th place, and finished early in 37th position.
NASCAR Cup Series returns next weekend as they will make their first stop ever at Iowa Speedway. That can be seen on USA, with the race starting at 7PM EST.
If you want to check out more of our amazing photos from this race and the other action from this weekend at Sonoma Raceway by Greg Capillupo and Sports Media X, you can go to our Facebook page by clicking the button below.
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