Pit strategy helps Martin Truex Jr. win NASCAR event in Sonoma.
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With 37 laps left in Sunday’s Toyota/ SaveMart 350, Martin Truex Jr.’s pit crew and crew chief Cole Pearn pulled a feint worthy of an Oscar.
The move helped Truex and the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to win the race by a record 10.5 seconds over Kevin Harvick at Sonoma Raceway.
It was the 18th career Cup win for Truex, his third of the season and the third roadcourse win of his career. He also had won at Sonoma in 2013.
Harvick had a small lead when Truex’s crew grabbed its tires, hopped up on the wall and made as if they were ready for the defending NASCAR Cup series champion to pit on lap 73 of the 110-lap, 218.9-mile race.
But Pearn called off the pit stop on the radio to his driver at the last second, knowing that Harvick’s team was monitoring their radio conversation. Truex said he wasn’t sure at the time what Pearn’s strate-
gy was.
“We’re in California — they went to acting school this week,” Truex said with a laugh. “I wasn’t sure what was going on. I just did what he said.”
The fakery evidently prompted Harvick to pit for tires and fuel, but Truex didn’t come in. He waited seven more laps to pit and wound up with fresher tires for the stretch run.
He passed Harvick with 19 laps left and led the rest of the way. Overall, he led for 62 laps.
In the 30-year history of NASCAR Cup races at the raceway, few races have been won by more than a few seconds. The previous largest margin of victory was 9.56 by Ernie Irvan in 1994.
“We were just hoping for no cautions because we had a big lead,” Truex said.
Harvick was second and Clint Bowyer, his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, was third. Chase Elliott and current points leader Kyle Busch were fourth and fifth.
Pole-sitter Kyle Larson finished 14th.
Truex and Pearn thought they had the best car at Sonoma last year but his engine blew with 24 laps to go, relegating him to 37th place. That time Harvick won.
“This place can break your heart even if you show up with the best equipment,” said Barney Visser, owner of the onecar Furniture Row operation in Denver.
It was an usually clean race, without the crashes and endless cautions that have marked Sonoma races in the past. Aside from the stage break, the only caution came when AJ Allmendinger missed a shift and blew up his engine on lap 33.
The restarts are “usually where the most damage comes, and we didn’t have many of those today,” Harvick said.
Truex said the entire field has gotten better at road racing over the years, resulting in fewer crashes. “Road courses are something that everybody in the garage wants to win in a big way,” he said. “To be able to win here twice has been a real feather in the cap for me.”
The race had seven leaders and 11 lead changes. Truex’s average speed was 82.882 mph. Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin won the first two stages.
“Martin just had a little bit faster car than we did today,” said Harvick, who led for 35 laps. “At the beginning of the race, we could outrun him just a little bit, and as the second stage got over, we just started struggling with the brakes on our car."