Chase Elliott shook off a one-race suspension at Sonoma Raceway Sunday, exhibiting his familiar road course prowess to record a fifth-place finish in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
It was the first road course race this season for Elliott, who missed the Circuit of the Americas event in March due to a broken leg he suffered in a snow boarding accident.
Elliott, who was assessed a one-race suspension by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600, still finds himself in a must-win situation to get into the 16-driver playoff field with 10 races remaining in the regular season. He is 27th in the driver standings, so getting in on points is not an option.
Crew chief Alan Gustafson knew they had to gamble when a late race yellow flag waved in the 110-lap race on the 1.99-mile road course. Elliott had pitted on lap 80, so when the second caution period began on lap 93, Gustafson left his Hendrick Motorsports driver on the track. Of the 34 cars on the lead lap, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney were the only other drivers to remain on the track.
Elliott inherited the lead, but he was no match for the fresh tires of eventual winner Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher.
“We were trying to do something a little different with strategy,” Elliott said. “I was really hoping that more people would do that with us, so we’d have three or four rows. It still probably wouldn’t have been enough, but I do think it would have been nicer to have a couple more rows and a buffer for those with tires.”
McDowell Rebounds from Pit Stop Woes
With 20 laps remaining, Michael McDowell appeared headed for his first top-five finish this season, but an issue with the right-front lug nut on his final pit stop during the final caution period left him 13th on the restart.
“I just needed that last stop to go smooth and come off pit road third or second and have a shot of winning the race. We didn’t do it,” said McDowell, who finished seventh.
“Here’s the deal. We ran good all weekend. We had a top five, top three car. I think we legitimately had the pace to run with the 19 (winner Martin Truex Jr.) there. We were starting to run him back down on that long run and that last pit stop hurt us. It is what it is.”
Another Road Course Top-10 for Buescher
Chris Buescher displayed his affinity for road course racing Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, recording a fourth-place finish for his seventh consecutive top 10 on a road course.
“I’ve had a ball at these things since I was nine years old in a Bandolero running the infield road course at Texas (Motor Speedway),” said Buescher, who finished 8.707 seconds behind winner Martin Truex Jr. “It clicked then, and it’s continued to through my career.
“I’ve had good help from good road racers to help me fine-tune some of that. I had a good teammate in A.J. Allmendinger for a few years and all of that builds up to strong runs and enjoying these things. I like doing something different from time-to-time.”
Hamlin Only Driver Who failed To Finish
Denny Hamlin’s performance in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway is a prime example of how quickly a good race day can go sour.
The pole position winner led twice for 33 laps and was still in the top 10 with 20 laps remaining. However, on lap 92 he smacked the turn 12 outside wall with his Toyota’s left rear and spun on the frontstretch at the start-finish line. That left him with a last-place finish in the 36-car field.
“I was really close behind the 24 (William Byron) and I couldn’t really see where I was going,” Hamlin said. “I went to turn left to try to peak under him and the wall was there.”
