NASCAR Toyota/Save Mart 350: Daniel Suárez earns first Cup victory
The NASCAR Cup Series' June schedule continued Sunday on FS1 with the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, California, where Daniel Suárez came away with his first Cup Series win.
After running on the 1.99-mile setup for 30 years, NASCAR jumped to the 12-turn, 2.52-mile full circuit in 2019. This was the second of six road races on the NASCAR schedule this season.
Here are the top moments from Sonoma Raceway.
All in a day's work
Between smoke and leaking oil, a couple of things were amiss with Bubba Wallace's car. He had to exit the race early in the first stage.
Setting the stage
Kyle Larson took an early lead and never relinquished it, winning the opening stage by several seconds. He was followed by Joey Logano and Kyle Busch. Some have had issues turning on Sonoma's winding course.
Follow the leader
The green flag was back out at Lap 30 after Denny Hamlin made contact with Ryan Blaney prior to the end of the first stage. Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher continued to lead the field early in the second stage.
With Elliott out front, Hendrick Motorsports exceeded 100,000 miles led in their history — a major accomplishment for one of NASCAR's top-tier teams.
No. 22 snags Stage 2
Logano won the second stage after holding onto a five-second lead over Aric Almirola.
Takeover in Turn 4
Buescher and Suárez remained side-by-side all the way to Turn 4, but when Buescher went wide, Suárez was able to pass him for the lead.
Bumper cars!
Larson, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon were racing neck and neck entering Turn 11. Things got heated when Larson got into Chastain's bumper entering Turn 5, which sent him wide and into Dillon.
Accident exiting Turn 10
Reddick spun out in front of traffic, throwing up a huge smokescreen that forced Josh Bilicki to spin to avoid hitting Reddick. Reddick then headed to the garage area with something wrong with the left rear of his car.
Not how he drew it up
Larson lost a right front wheel as he was headed uphill into Turn 2, bringing out a caution late in the race, and he had to drive back to the pits on three wheels.
It'll be a four-race suspension for crew chief Cliff Daniels and two crew members.
Closing time
There was a big spin in Turn 5, as Busch locked up the brakes entering the corner and nearly took out Kevin Harvick. and Alex Bowman in the process. Thankfully, things stayed green, and Suárez continued to lead Buescher by six tenths of a second with 15 laps to go, followed by Michael McDowell, Blaney and Harvick.
Home stretch
With 10 laps remaining, Suárez, Buescher and McDowell held the top three spots. Suárez was eyeing his first career Cup win, while Buescher was aiming for his first victory since 2016 and McDowell was looking for his first win since the 2021 Daytona 500.
Winner!
In the end, it was Suárez who came out on top after leading for 47 of the 110 total laps.
