Kevin Harvick has finally broken through for his first win of the NASCAR season with victory on the road course at Sonoma just outside San Francisco.
In what was his first win with Ford, first victory at Sonoma as well as the 36th of his career, Harvick stretched his fuel over the final 40 laps to beat home fellow Stewart-Haas Racing driver Clint Bowyer.
Harvick led the final 24 of the 110 laps after first passing long-time leader Martin Truex Jr. in the final pit stop cycle and went to the front when Brad Keselowski tried stayed out on track until he had to stop for fuel.
Keselowski was the driver to watch over the final stages as he charged back to third place at the finish.
“I am so excited. I think as you look at it, getting our first win with Ford, this has been a great journey for us as an organisation and team,” said Harvick.
“It is a great day. It finally all came together and we were able to not have any cautions there at the end. I was able to take care of the car and get out front.
“To finally check this one off the list. I feel like we have been close a couple times but never put it all together. Being so close to home and having raced here so much, this was one that was on the top of the list and today we were able to check that box.”
Truex Jr. led a race-high 25 laps, but was sidelined by engine trouble with 34 laps remaining. Truex did have the bonus of winning the first stage, his series-best 11th stage victory of the season.
Jimmie Johnson, who led 12 laps and wound up as the 13th-place finisher, took Stage 2.
Several cars pressed on after sustaining damage in the eventful opening stages. Pole-starter Kyle Larson was among those collected in a Lap 14 incident that involved Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick.
Those same three drivers were tangled up in a Lap 30 wreck that sent Patrick spinning and was collected by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Patrick managed to fight back to a 17th-place finish, while Stenhouse finished last in the 38-car field.
A road course favourite, AJ Allmendinger, had a difficult day after he had rear-end damage after contact from Clint Bowyer. Allmendinger lost plenty of ground in the race’s final stage, stopping for a battery change. His day ended in 35th place, six laps off the pace.
As always, the race at Sonoma attracted a range of road course specialists, but none really figured.
Five drivers in all were making their Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut.
The top finisher among them was Billy Johnson, who was driving in place of the injured Aric Almirola who finished in 22nd.
From road course racing the series switches back to Superspeedway attack with the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway.
VIDEO: Race recap
VIDEO: Victory Lane
RESULTS: Toyota – Save Mart 350
| Cla | # | Driver | Make | Laps | Laps Led |
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 110 | 24 |
| 2 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 110 | |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 110 | 17 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 110 | 11 |
| 5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 110 | 3 |
| 6 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 7 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 110 | |
| 8 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 9 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 110 | |
| 10 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 110 | 1 |
| 11 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 110 | |
| 13 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 110 | 12 |
| 14 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 15 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 110 | |
| 16 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 17 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 110 | |
| 18 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 19 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 110 | 4 |
| 20 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 110 | |
| 21 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 110 | |
| 22 | 43 | Billy Johnson | Ford | 110 | |
| 23 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 110 | |
| 24 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 109 | |
| 25 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 109 | |
| 26 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 109 | 9 |
| 27 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 109 | |
| 28 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 109 | |
| 29 | 33 | Boris Said | Chevrolet | 109 | |
| 30 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 109 | |
| 31 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 109 | |
| 32 | 23 | Day Alon | Toyota | 108 | |
| 33 | 15 | Kevin O’Connell | Chevrolet | 108 | |
| 34 | 55 | Tommy Regan | Chevrolet | 106 | |
| 35 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 104 | 4 |
| 36 | 51 | Josh Bilicki | Chevrolet | 100 | |
| 37 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 86 | 25 |
| 38 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 30 |
STANDINGS
|
Rank
|
Driver
|
Pts
|
Behind
|
Wins
|
Starts
|
Top 5’s
|
Top 10’s
|
Poles
|
|
1
|
Kyle Larson
|
659
|
Leader
|
2
|
16
|
7
|
10
|
3
|
|
2
|
Martin Truex Jr.
|
646
|
-13
|
2
|
16
|
5
|
11
|
0
|
|
3
|
Kevin Harvick
|
548
|
-111
|
1
|
16
|
6
|
10
|
3
|
|
4
|
Kyle Busch
|
542
|
-117
|
0
|
16
|
6
|
9
|
2
|
|
5
|
Brad Keselowski
|
519
|
-140
|
2
|
16
|
9
|
11
|
1
|
|
6
|
Chase Elliott
|
509
|
-150
|
0
|
16
|
5
|
10
|
1
|
|
7
|
Jimmie Johnson
|
483
|
-176
|
3
|
16
|
3
|
6
|
0
|
|
8
|
Jamie McMurray
|
477
|
-182
|
0
|
16
|
2
|
10
|
0
|
|
9
|
Denny Hamlin
|
476
|
-183
|
0
|
16
|
4
|
8
|
0
|
|
10
|
Joey Logano
|
434
|
-225
|
1
|
16
|
7
|
9
|
1
|
|
11
|
Clint Bowyer
|
427
|
-232
|
0
|
16
|
3
|
6
|
0
|
|
12
|
Matt Kenseth
|
423
|
-236
|
0
|
16
|
3
|
6
|
1
|
|
13
|
Ryan Blaney
|
415
|
-244
|
1
|
16
|
3
|
6
|
1
|
|
14
|
Kurt Busch
|
389
|
-270
|
1
|
16
|
2
|
8
|
0
|
|
15
|
Ryan Newman
|
367
|
-292
|
1
|
16
|
2
|
5
|
0
|
|
16
|
Erik Jones
|
358
|
-301
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
|
17
|
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
|
355
|
-304
|
1
|
16
|
3
|
6
|
1
|
|
18
|
Trevor Bayne
|
337
|
-322
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
|
19
|
Daniel Suarez
|
334
|
-325
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
|
20
|
Austin Dillon
|
322
|
-337
|
1
|
16
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
|
21
|
Kasey Kahne
|
305
|
-354
|
0
|
16
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
|
22
|
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
|
293
|
-366
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
4
|
0
|
|
23
|
Ty Dillon
|
273
|
-386
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
24
|
Paul Menard
|
259
|
-400
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
|
25
|
Chris Buescher
|
223
|
-436
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
26
|
Michael McDowell
|
223
|
-436
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
27
|
AJ Allmendinger
|
213
|
-446
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
|
28
|
Danica Patrick
|
196
|
-463
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
29
|
David Ragan
|
191
|
-468
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
30
|
Aric Almirola
|
188
|
-471
|
0
|
11
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
|
31
|
Cole Whitt
|
183
|
-476
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
32
|
Matt DiBenedetto
|
160
|
-499
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
33
|
Landon Cassill
|
160
|
-499
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
34
|
Corey LaJoie
|
98
|
-561
|
0
|
14
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
35
|
Gray Gaulding
|
82
|
-577
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
36
|
Reed Sorenson
|
72
|
-587
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
37
|
Jeffrey Earnhardt
|
65
|
-594
|
0
|
15
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
38
|
Michael Waltrip
|
29
|
-630
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
39
|
Derrike Cope
|
26
|
-633
|
0
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
40
|
Billy Johnson
|
15
|
-644
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
41
|
Boris Said
|
8
|
-651
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
42
|
Alon Day
|
5
|
-654
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
43
|
Kevin O’Connell
|
4
|
-655
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
44
|
Cody Ware
|
4
|
-655
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
45
|
Tommy Regan
|
3
|
-656
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
46
|
D.J. Kennington
|
1
|
-658
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
47
|
Brendan Gaughan
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
48
|
Elliott Sadler
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
49
|
Darrell Wallace Jr.
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
50
|
Ross Chastain
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
51
|
Joey Gase
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
52
|
Regan Smith
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
53
|
JJ Yeley
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
54
|
Ryan Sieg
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
55
|
Timmy Hill
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
56
|
Carl Long
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
57
|
Josh Bilicki
|
0
|
-659
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
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