Tony Stewart rolled to victory Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, bumping past Denny Hamlin in the final turn to post his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season and keep his hopes alive for a fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in his final championship campaign.
Stewart, who led 22 of the 110 laps, guided the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet to a .625-second margin of victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. His third win on the 1.99-mile road course was the 49th of his Sprint Cup career.
Stewart, who missed the first eight races of his final NASCAR championship campaign, now has one component accomplished of his goal to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series playoffs. He'll need to advance into the top 30 in points, a position he's just nine points away from in 32nd.
Hamlin, who grabbed the lead from Stewart in Turn 7 on the final lap before sliding high in the last of 11 turns, led a race-high 33 laps and ended up second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. Joey Logano, the winner at Michigan in the series' previous race, took third place.
Edwards, who won the Coors Light Pole Award in Saturday's qualifying, led 24 laps and finished fourth in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five in the first of two road-racing events this season for the Sprint Cup Series.
Road-racing expert AJ Allmendinger led 20 laps in the JTG Daugherty No. 47 Chevrolet and finished 14th. His team was penalized for an uncontrolled tire on a Lap 88 pit stop, knocking him from contention.
Kyle Busch, a Sonoma winner one year ago, wound up seventh in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.
Home-state driver Kyle Larson spent much of the day in the top five, but fell from contention with a pit-road speeding penalty in a Lap 70 stop. He finished 12th.
Notes: Clint Bowyer, a winner at Sonoma in 2012, was sidelined after completing just five laps by an electrical issue that filled the cockpit of his No. 15 Chevrolet with smoke. "Smoke is never good in the cockpit and it stinks. Hell, I couldn't breathe," said Bowyer, who finished last in the 40-car field. … Former NASCAR Next driver Dylan Lupton finished 35th in his Sprint Cup debut, the last driver on the lead lap. … Sunday before the race, Toyota -- the race co-sponsor and the track's official vehicle -- announced a three-year extension of its partnership with Sonoma Raceway. The deal continues a sponsorship that has been in place since 2007. … The series' next race is scheduled Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, which will host the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).
This story will be updated.
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