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Kyle Larson celebrates at Sonoma with HANS device on Photo NKP
(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2021 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma

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What happened?

Kyle Larson won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at his hometown track, Sonoma Raceway, on Sunday (June 6) after holding off two of the sport’s best road racers on two late restarts. 

Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five finishers.

See also
Kyle Larson Leads 57 Laps, Survives Late-Race Carnage to Win at Sonoma

How did it happen?

Pole sitter Larson pulled ahead of his teammate Elliott on the initial start of the race and stayed there frequently throughout the afternoon. Christopher Bell hit pit road on lap 4 with an apparent fuel pressure issue and rejoined the race on the tail end of the lead lap. Before the competition caution at lap 10, everyone besides five drivers pitted to retain their track position.

Larson held the lead over Elliott on the restart following the competition caution with seven laps to go in the stage. Elliott stayed close at first before Larson began to gap the field. Several drivers pitted with two to go in the stage just before pit lane closed to gain track position for the second stage. That left Larson cruising to the stage one win.

Kurt Busch led the field to green for stage two with 16 laps to go. Larson and Elliott restarted back in 15th and 16th, respectively. Both drivers worked their way through the field, but it was their teammate William Byron snatching the lead from Busch with 12 to go in the stage. With nine laps left, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall and wrecked just past the pit road exit by turn 1 to bring out a caution.

Larson and Truex led the field to green after Byron pitted under yellow, with the No. 5 again showing its speed. Larson pulled ahead easily and rolled to another stage win as Truex pitted with two to go in the stage. The stage win was Larson’s series-leading 11th of the year.

Kurt Busch and Elliott held the top two spots on the next restart, with Elliott eventually taking the lead on lap 46 of the scheduled 90. Larson restarted 21st and got up to fourth within five laps. After a good battle with Elliott, Larson took the lead with 33 laps to go. It took Larson just 13 laps to go from 21st to the lead.

Elliott pitted from third with 29 laps to go, Truex pitted from second with 28 to go and Larson pitted from the lead with 27 to go. The three best cars all day exited with Truex leading Larson then Elliott, though there were still other drivers ahead of them on the track due to strategy. Larson passed Truex for what would eventually be the lead with 24 laps to go.

Larson got past Logano for the top spot with 22 to go, but a caution came out with 19 to go when Quin Houff stalled on the track. Everyone pitted except four cars. On the restart with 16 to go, Logano held the lead over Tyler Reddick and Corey LaJoie with Larson and Elliott charging fast. Another caution came with 14 to go due to a big wreck involving LaJoie, Byron, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman.

On the restart with 11 to go, Larson passed Logano and Elliott quickly followed. Larson grew the lead to just over three seconds when Ryan Preece and Cody Ware got tangled up in the esses with five laps remaining.

Larson again cleared Elliott on the restart with three to go, but they didn’t even complete a lap before another caution came out thanks to an incident with rookie Anthony Alfredo, Bell and Bowman.

On the overtime restart, Elliott stayed tight with Larson throughout the first lap. He was within striking distance through the carousel before losing some ground in the esses and eventually fading slightly. Larson held him off, winning the race by 0.614 seconds.

The victory was Larson’s third of the season, his first at Sonoma and the ninth of his career. It also marked the fourth straight 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports.

Who stood out?

Larson was so good at Sonoma that he defied strategy. In recent years, there’s been no road course race with more varying strategies than Sonoma. It seemed like crew chief Cliff Daniels had Larson on an odd strategy when he restarted 21st during the final stage. Instead, he raced to the lead within 13 laps. He was just that much better than the competition.

Another race win and two more stage victories bring Larson to 26 playoff points. His 11 stage wins are more than double the next-closest driver (Hamlin, five). Similar to Harvick and Hamlin last year, Larson is building up that points cushion so he can coast through most of the playoffs to the finale. Now, as Harvick showed last year, that doesn’t always work out. But I’d rather have the points than not have them.

Elliott continues to be the hottest driver not named Larson. Sonoma marked his sixth straight top-10 finish, with five of those being top fives. He’s finished in the top three in each of the last four races and has climbed up to third in the points standings. The No. 9 is clearly still a tick below the No. 5, but with playoff experience and a slew of road courses still on the docket, Elliott will definitely be in the mix all summer and fall.

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Up to Speed: Will a Teammate Battle Decide the 2021 NASCAR Championship?

Truex played the role of best non-Hendrick driver at Sonoma while finishing third. He mentioned it in his post-race interview — the Joe Gibbs cars are good right now, the Hendrick cars are just better. Sonoma has been one of the 2017 Cup champion’s best tracks throughout his career. Truex had speed to stay closer to Larson than just about anyone on long runs; he just wasn’t good enough to ever get by him. Upcoming races at Pocono and Road America will be good chances to gauge where this team is at versus the HMS cars.

Who fell flat?

Following an incredible string of 13 straight top-11 finishes, Byron’s luck turned at Sonoma. There were points during the race where he battled Elliott and appeared to be just as fast as his teammate. A differing strategy shuffled the running order and put him back in traffic when he got collected in the big late wreck. The streak clearly wasn’t going to last forever, so perhaps it’s a good time for the No. 24 team to reset and lock in as the playoffs inch closer.

Something else to remember: 2021 is Rudy Fugle’s first time calling races this long. He’s been an excellent Camping World Truck Series crew chief for years, but these distances are an adjustment for sure. Fugle has been a great match with Byron and now is a good time for him to learn with a win already in their back pocket.

Harvick was a dark horse favorite entering Sonoma, yet he just never had the speed to run with the leaders. That’s been the story of Harvick’s season, really. He was fast enough to run in the back half of the top 10 for most of the race until the late wreck destroyed his day. Stewart-Haas Racing still has a ton of work to do over these summer months if Harvick wants to have any chance at a second title.

What did this race prove?

Sonoma was badly missed on the schedule last year. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I saw the cars going around the track on Sunday afternoon. There’s something nostalgic about those big, clunky cars going through sharp corners while surrounded by dirt. It was great to have the California track back on the circuit in 2021.

Competition cautions have to go. I know that NASCAR claims it’s for safety reasons and to check the tires because there are no practice sessions. But how often do we see an actual tire problem before the competition yellow? Almost never. I’m ready to throw away competition cautions permanently and if teams start having tire problems, they’ll just have to pit on their own. 

Along those lines, stage cautions at road courses shouldn’t exist. Road courses are all about strategy. Before stages were implemented, the strategy of running the race backward was discussed throughout every broadcast. There were way more fuel mileage questions and different things teams could do to steal points. NASCAR can keep the stages just for consistency with the other races and award points to the first 10 drivers to cross the line on their predetermined lap.

Paint scheme of the race

Ever since SunnyD entered NASCAR with Stenhouse in 2016, the paint schemes have been fantastic. The patented bright orange and dark blue colors moved back to Stenhouse at JTG Daugherty Racing in 2021 and created another gorgeous design:

Better than last time?

Last year, the race was canceled due to COVID-19. In 2019, Byron led every lap in the first stage while other contenders opted to pit early and prioritize the race win over stage points. The same story happened in the second stage with Hamlin taking it. The final stage was largely anticlimactic as Truex held a steady lead over Kyle Busch and led the final 24 laps for his third Sonoma win. Stage breaks were the only cautions in the event, which used the 550 horsepower package.

This year, the 750 HP package was used and it was absolutely an improvement. Larson was much better than the rest of the field and the late cautions probably saved it from being a five-second or more win. But the strategies in the final stage did jumble up the running order a bit to keep things interesting and two late restarts kept the race outcome in (some) question.

Playoff picture

Larson and Truex are now leading the series with three victories on the year. There are still five playoff spots open for non-winners, with two of those still very secure — Hamlin (+333) and Harvick (+152).

The three other drivers below Hamlin and Harvick have also built a sizable cushion over 17th. Austin Dillon (+105), Reddick (+67) and Chris Buescher (+60) are all in a great spot on points unless there’s a new winner who is outside the top 16. Matt DiBenedetto (-60), Kurt Busch (-63) and Stenhouse (-82) are the closest drivers outside the playoffs. There are now just 10 races remaining until the playoffs begin.

Here’s a look at the full standings following Sonoma:

What’s next?

The Cup Series is heading to Texas Motor Speedway for a non-points event. The 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race at TMS is set for Sunday (June 13) at 8 p.m. ET, with the All-Star Open beginning two hours earlier at 6 p.m. ET. Both races will be shown on FOX Sports 1, the final race of the season with FOX before NBC takes over for the remainder of 2021.

RACE WEEKEND CENTRAL: MID-OHIO

RACE WEEKEND CENTRAL: SONOMA

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