Martin Truex Jr. got his fourth NASCAR win of 2019 and it was the final broadcast for Darrell Waltrip at Sonoma Raceway in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
The first road course race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season was less like a battle and more like a chess match. There were only two caution periods during the race. They came at the end of the first two stages of the race.
William Byron scored the win of stage one. Denny Hamlin was the leader at the end of stage two.
Martin Truex Jr. was the class of the field for the day. He led a race high 59 of the 90 laps at Sonoma. He was one of five drivers to exchange the lead of the race seven times. The important thing for Martin was he was able to maintain his lead over Kyle Busch in the final laps of the race to claim the win. It was Martin’s second consecutive win at Sonoma Raceway and his fourth win of the 2019 season.
Kyle Busch claimed second place with Ryan Blaney crossing the finish line third. Matt Dibenedetto earned his career best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series claiming fourth place. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 here.
Joey Logano remains the lead in the point standings with Kyle Busch holding steady in second place. Kevin Harvick moves up a spot to third pushing Brad Keselowski back a spot to fourth. The win moves Martin Truex Jr. up to round out the top five in the standings. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
Darrell Waltrip announced he will retire from broadcasting after this season. Everybody just calls him “DW.” FOX’s portion of the season ended with the Sonoma race. That means it was DW’s final broadcast. Fans. tracks, drivers and teams have been telling the former driver turned broadcaster “Thank You” for weeks. Yesterday Darrell was able to say an emotional farewell at the end of his final broadcast.
Next stop on the circuit for the NASCAR drivers and teams is Chicagoland Speedway for the Camping World 400 Sunday, June 30th.
By: Buck Stevens
