Stewart bumps, passes to Sonoma win
Tony Stewart made a dramatic last-lap bump and pass and then held on to beat Denny Hamlin by less than one second in Sunday’s Toyota-Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
After Hamlin had briefly taken the lead, Stewart executed a pass that bumped Hamlin’s car aside, brushing the corner wall. Stewart flew by to take the flag by .65 of a second.
“You can’t crack the door open with me on the last corner of the last lap and expect me to not take it,” Stewart said after the race. “I’ll kick the door in or drive a bulldozer through it to keep it open. I wasn’t going to be cordial in the exit of the corner and I roughed him up pretty good. If it has been a street fight, he’d have had two black eyes after that.”
Hamlin, Stewart said, took the maneuver in stride. “Before I got to Victory Lane, Denny was leaning there and the first thing he says is ‘I’m so damned proud of you.’ I told him, ‘You know I had to do that,’ and he goes, ‘I know.’”
Stewart’s third Sonoma checkered flag was his first NASCAR win in 85 outings.
Joey Logano finished third. sitter Carl Edwards — who led 24 laps — finished fourth, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, the 2015 champ. Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch completed the top 10. Harvick retained the series lead by 35 points over second-place Kurt Busch.
The race has not had back-to-back winners since Jeff Gordon in 1998-2000.
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. …
Sun photos by Scott Knight
