NCS: Martin Truex Jr. wins in dominating fashion at Sonoma

Martin Truex Jr. dominated Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.

Truex showed the competition just how good he was on Sunday, winning for the second time in 2023 and his fourth win at the Sonoma road course.

Driver No. 19 took command of the lead with 14 laps to go in the race and stayed there for the remainder of the race.

“Great freaking car,” Truex told his team over the radio after crossing the start-finish line.

Truex led 51 of the 110 lap race.

Rounding out the top five were Kyle Busch in second, Joey Logano in third, Chris Buescher in fourth and Chase Elliott rounding out the top five.

Chase Elliott, who finished fifth returned to the Cup series this weekend at Sonoma after being suspended for one race.

Denny Hamlin, who started on the pole for Sunday’s race ended his race in the garage after being involved in an incident.

After winning the first stage, Hamlin’s race took a turn for the worse. Hamlin was on track when a caution came out on Lap 51 during green flag pit stops, forcing Hamlin to restart deep in the field. Hamlin would then get involved in a wreck ending his changes of contending for the win. Driver No. 11 would finish last.

Both Truex and Hamlin led for a combined 84 laps of the 110 lap race.

Rounding out the top ten were AJ Allmendinger in sixth, Michael McDowell in seventh, Kyle Larson in eighth, Christopher Bell in ninth and Ross Chastain in tenth.

Ross Chastain, who finished tenth ended his streak of three consecutive finishes of 20th or worse. AJ Allmendinger, who finished in sixth earned his highest placing finish in the Cup series at Sonoma.

With his win on Sunday, Truex takes back the points lead. He leads over William Byron who is second in point standings by 13 points.

The NASCAR Cup Series will have next weekend off. The series will pick back up on June 25th at Nashville Superspeedway at 7 p.m. Eastern on NBC.

Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin

Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch

Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr.