NASCAR at Sonoma results: Kyle Larson wins back-to-back Cup races

Kyle Larson didn’t skip a beat at his hometown track.

After sweeping all stages of the Coca-Cola 600 last weekend in Charlotte, he did the same Sunday, winning NASCAR’s Cup race at Sonoma — and all three stages — by leading a race-high 58 laps of 92 total for his third victory this season.

The Northern California native drank wine in Victory Lane and spit it into the air, attempting to mimic a photo from a previous K&N Series race. The wind instead carried the spray all over Sonoma Raceway general manager Jill Gregory on stage.

“I messed that up,” Larson said with a sheepish smile.

It was his only snafu of evening. The driver of the No. 5 car earned his second of back-to-back wins in the Cup Series, a feat Larson said he’d always dreamed of achieving.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott finished second and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. finished third.

“There were spots on the track where I thought I was a tick better, and there were spots on the track he was better,” Elliott said. “Then there were spots I thought we were fairly even. Needed to have a tick more to get after it.”

Hendrick battles continue on tough-tire track

Larson’s biggest battles were with his teammates at Charlotte, but his greatest threat at Sonoma were his tires on the unforgiving, 12-turn Carousel course through multiple late-race restarts that sent the field into a two-lap overtime. After each one of the four caution flags in the final 20 laps, Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels reminded the driver to preserve his tires, while feeding other updates on the No. 9 car driven by Elliott and the No. 19 driven by Truex around him. Larson’s response to Daniels was quick each time — “OK.”

His car was even quicker. Larson pulled away after every restart, resuming the lead on Lap 76, and led Elliott by 0.6 seconds at the checkered flag for the fourth Hendrick 1-2 finish in a row.

“It was not easy,” Larson said. “Any road course isn’t easy. Just trying to keep it on track is tough, especially when you’ve got two of the best behind you on the last restart.”

An incident in Turn 4 involving Anthony Alfredo, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman bunched the field together for what could have been a dramatic overtime finish, but the No. 5 was too fast. When asked what the difference was between his car and Larson’s post-race, Elliott said he wish he knew and that he expected the note-sharing at HMS to continue despite the consistent inter-team battles. The drivers have finished in the top-two in the last three races.

“Everything is kind of an open book,” Elliott said. “It has been since I’ve been here. We just have to continue to push.”

Movement in Cup Series point standings

Hendrick driver Bowman also finished in the top-10, in ninth, after he was caught up in earlier incidents, while the team’s fourth driver William Byron crashed out after contact with Kevin Harvick for the No. 24 team’s first DNF in 16 races. Byron’s lowest finish prior to Sunday since the Daytona road course race in February was 11th at Circuit of the Americas.

Two other Gibbs drivers finish in the top-10 along with Truex. Kyle Busch finished fifth and Denny Hamlin finished in eighth. Team Penske’s Joey Logano finished in fourth and led five laps, while teammate Ryan Blaney finished 10th.

Penske’s Brad Keselowski nearly had a shot at the lead after pitting before a caution in the final stage, but a penalty for his No. 2 team having equipment and a crew member over the wall too soon sent Keselowski to the rear for the restart with fewer than 20 laps left in the race. He finished 15th.

Hamlin continues to lead the series in points without a win, but Larson has cut his lead down to 47 points, while Elliott is third in standings and 73 points behind Hamlin.

“Our team is strong right now,” Daniels said. “Knowing that (the regular season championship) is in our sights, we’re certainly going to pay attention to (points).”

A mix of strategies and tire troubles played out, but the constant was Larson zipping through the field. It took the driver just 13 laps to race from out of the top-20 to first place in the final stage after pitting while others stayed out on different fuel strategies. Daniels said he stuck with his team’s strategy through the race, but credited Larson with driving through the unpredictable late restarts.

He tempered the early success the team’s had this year by noting that there’s still “a lot of racing left” as the series nears its halfway point. Twenty races remain on the schedule, not including next weekend’s All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It’s going to be a long summer,” Daniels said. “A lot of weeks in a row where we’re going to have backup cars and practice-qualifying events. We’ve got to stay sharp. Then come playoff time, that’s when we’ve really got to be on top of our game.”

Bubba Wallace bounces back

With 23XI Racing celebrity owner Michael Jordan in the house, driver Bubba Wallace was in the spotlight. Jordan was seen pre-race at Sonoma making his season debut in the NASCAR garage.

Wallace raced in the top-10 in the first stage, but a speeding penalty before the stage break sent him to the back of the pack on the next restart. He recovered in Stage 2 and was able to drive into the top-10, but was hit with another tough break: A flat left rear tire forced Wallace to pit a few laps before the end of the stage. The No. 23 team was caught a lap down when the final stage started.

Wallace had radioed to his team earlier that he was starting to get the hang of road course racing, but after the flat, his tone wasn’t as optimistic.

“If that doesn’t suck all the wind out of your sails,” Wallace said on his radio.

Finally, Wallace caught a break when the caution came out for the incident that collected Byron and Harvick, as well as Ross Chastain and Corey LaJoie, with the No. 23 running in free pass position. Wallace finished the race in 14th for one of his best finishes this year.

A crash at Circuit of the Americas ended his day early two weeks ago and Wallace finished 26th at the Daytona road course, which were the two other road courses the series has completed so far this year, making Sonoma a bright spot after a 14th place finish last weekend at Charlotte as well. The team’s best finish this season was 11th at Dover.

Race results

This story was originally published June 6, 2021 at 7:43 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription