Martin Truex, Jr. Wins NASCAR at Sonoma Raceway
A little trickery laced a masterful pit stop strategy by Martin Truex, Jr's crew chief Cole Pearn. And that translated into Truex, Jr. winning Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway in California.
It was all an act staged by the race team in the pits. Truex Jr. behind the wheel didn't even know what was going on. He just did what he was told.
The race was being led by Kevin Harvick, who had the faster car. Truex's team tricked Harvick into pitting by making it look like they were going to pit. But when Harvick headed into pit road, Truex was told to stay out on the track. This was with 37 laps to go.
Then seven laps later Truex went in for four new tires and easily won driving on fresh rubber in the closing laps winning by over ten seconds ahead of Harvick.
Clint Bowyer passed Chase Elliott for third. A hard charging Kyle Busch finished fifth and maintained a 72 point lead in the series. See where your driver finished.