It’s Truex, Busch and everyone else
SONOMA, Calif. — Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have managed to keep their old rivalry quite friendly during their first season as teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing.
It’s a bit easier for Truex to be a gracious winner — and for Busch to be somewhat content with second place — when their two Toyotas are blowing away the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field by a full 31 seconds, as they did on a dominant Sunday in wine country.
Truex won on the hilly road course at Sonoma Raceway for the second straight year and the third time in his Cup Series career, comfortably holding off Busch for JGR’s 10th victory of the season.
Truex won for the fourth time in the past eight points races, earning his 23rd victory overall on the top-tier circuit. Busch also has four wins this season, putting the two veteran drivers in position for a long summer of friendly competition as each seeks to win a second Cup Series title. Busch, 34, won the 2015 championship; Truex, 38, won it all two years ago.
Truex and Busch finished 1-2 for the seventh time in their careers, and they were the class of the final stage in a caution-free race.
“We race as hard as we can possibly race on the race track, and we respect each other off it,” Truex said. “That works out pretty good.”
Although Busch is a vicious competitor, he had perspective on this result after failing to find a way to make a late push past Truex. Their careers have intersected regularly since 2004, when Truex held off Busch to win a season title on NASCAR’s second-tier series.
Busch, who has four top-five finishes in the past five Cup Series races at Sonoma, was still frustrated “to finish second to a teammate.” As the owner of a NASCAR Truck Series team, though, he understands the business.
“It is good for the company,” he said of Truex’s win. “Overall, Martin is really good here. I’m just pumped that I actually ran good.”
Ryan Blaney was a distant third, more than 33 seconds behind Truex. Matt DiBenedetto finished a career-best fourth, and JGR’s Denny Hamlin was fifth. Erik Jones, JGR’s fourth driver, came in eighth.
After Hamlin won the second stage, Truex got the lead early in the third stage, and Busch didn’t follow Truex into the pits for the final stop. When Busch finally pitted four laps later, Truex regained the lead with 23 laps to go. Truex opened an eight-second advantage and held off a strong push by Busch to win by 1.861 seconds.
IndyCar: Rossi rolls
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Alexander Rossi took the lead in the first turn of the first lap, then drove away from the rest of the field to win IndyCar’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America.
Rossi was up front for 54 of 55 laps on the 4.014-mile course, relinquishing the lead only when he made pit stops, and finished more than 28 seconds ahead of second-place Will Power. Josef Newgarden was third, followed by Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon.
It’s Rossi’s second win of the season — he also won in April in Long Beach, California — and the seventh of his IndyCar career. The 27-year-old Andretti Autosport driver has finished second three times in 2019.
Rossi started the race on the front row, next to Colton Herta, who on Saturday became the series’ youngest pole position winner at 19 years, 83 days. Rossi passed the rookie right after the green flag dropped, then quickly built a big lead.
F1: Hamilton cruises
LE CASTELLET, France — Lewis Hamilton needed only a few seconds to take control of the French Grand Prix.
Once he accelerated away from pole position, leaving Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas trailing, Hamilton was not challenged over 53 laps.
His fourth straight win, sixth overall this season and 79th of his Formula One career looked easy as he finished 18 seconds ahead of Bottas and 19 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
It moved Hamilton 36 points ahead of Bottas and a massive 76 points clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in a quest for a sixth series title that appears increasingly likely for the 34-year-old British driver. If Hamilton wins the remaining 13 races this season — an unlikely defeat, despite his dominance — he will break Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 F1 wins.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen placed fourth ahead of Vettel, who took a point for the fastest lap in what was otherwise another disappointing performance from the four-time series champion.
Hamilton’s latest win came a day after he clinched a record-extending 86th pole.
Chastain back at it
MADISON, Ill. — Ross Chastain won the NASCAR Truck Series race late Saturday night at The Raceway at Gateway, a week after losing a victory at Iowa Speedway when he was disqualified because his truck failed a postrace inspection.
Chastain grabbed track position with a gas-only last pit stop in the Niece Motorsports No. 45 Chevrolet. He finished 0.740 second ahead of Todd Gilliland in the 160-lap race on the 1.25-mile oval.
Stewart Friesen was third, followed by Chandler Smith, Brett Moffitt, Grant Enfinger, Sheldon Creed, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton and Myatt Snider.