Tony Stewart survived a fierce last-lap duel with former teammate Denny Hamlin, nosing past Hamlin under braking in the next-to-last corner of the final lap at Sonoma Raceway and driving on to his 49th career Cup Series victory. It ended an 84-race winless streak for the three-time champion that dated back to June 2013. Before Sunday, Stewart’s last trip to Victory Lane had come at Dover International Speedway.
He took the white flag yesterday with Hamlin in hot pursuit and briefly lost the lead to his Joe Gibbs Racing rival. But Stewart calmly measured his opponent as they navigated the final turns on the Northern California road course and made his winning pass with the checkered flag in sight. The margin of victory was six-tenths of a second. Joey Logano, pole sitter Carl Edwards and Martin Truex, Jr. completed the top 5.
Stewart sat out the early weeks of the season while recovering from back surgery after he was injured in late January while driving dune buggies on vacation in California. Despite missing 8 races, he’s eligible for the post-season Chase provided he’s among the top 30 in the standings at the end of the regular season. With Sunday’s victory, Stewart’s 9 points shy of that with 10 races left before the 16-driver title field is set.
Stewart started 10th and led the final 22 laps of Sunday’s race in his #14 Chevrolet. Runner-up Hamlin led a race-high 33 laps around the two-mile natural road course.
Sunday’s race included 12 lead changes among 8 drivers. There were 4 cautions for 10 laps.
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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, NC
Rank Driver (wins) Points Behind +/-
1 Kevin Harvick (1) 562 LEADER 0
2 Kurt Busch (1) 527 -35 0
3 Carl Edwards (2) 510 -52 +1
4 Brad Keselowski (2) 506 -56 -1
5 Joey Logano (1) 493 -69 0
6 Chase Elliott 473 -89 0
7 Jimmie Johnson (2) 469 -93 0
8 Martin Truex, Jr. (1) 469 -93 0
9 Kyle Busch (3) 452 -110 0
10 Matt Kenseth (1) 430 -132 0
11 Denny Hamlin (1) 421 -141 +2
12 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 413 -149 -1
13 Ryan Newman 402 -160 +2
14 Austin Dillon 400 -162 -2
15 Jamie McMurray 398 -164 -1
16 Kasey Kahne 385 -177 +1