Tony Stewart Earns First NASCAR Win In 3 Years At Sonoma

Tony Stewart earned yet another unforgettable victory on Sunday in the final season of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.

Tony Stewart Earns First NASCAR Win In 3 Years At Sonoma

The 45-year-old No. 14 Chevrolet SS driver claimed his first top-series win in three years by finishing first in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in California, thus snapping an 84-race winless streak. It also marked Stewart’s third career victory at Sonoma and the eighth victory of his career on a road course.

“Especially at a place you’re going to for the last time, it means a bunch,” Stewart said. “It’s special, trust me.”

Stewart was in position to win when he pitted 25 laps before the finish and the caution came out one lap afterwards. Everyone else on the lead lap pitted, and Stewart took the lead with 22 laps remaining. He held onto it nearly the rest of the way before Denny Hamlin bumped him in Turn 7 to pass him on the last lap. Hamlin took the last turn wide, and Stewart was able to get underneath Hamlin to make the final-turn pass and win the race.

“They’re all good. It doesn’t matter where you get them,” Stewart said about his 49th career Sprint Cup win. “But we ran close to those guys all day. We just got stuck back in traffic [before the pit stop].”

Hamlin finished second, Joey Logano was third, Carl Edwards was fourth, and Martin Truex Jr. came in fifth.

“I should have not left the bottom open,” Hamlin said. “I thought, ‘If I leave the bottom open, maybe he will think he can get there in a different kind of way.’ I just overshot the corner a little bit.

“Still a pretty good day. This is definitely a step in the right direction on the road course, but, man, utterly disappointed.”

Hamlin took the lead on lap 50 and was in front most of the laps until Stewart passed him. Danica Patrick also led for a few laps by staying out longer during a cycle of green-flag pit stops that got underway around lap 68. On lap 76, Hamlin passed Patrick, who still hadn’t pitted, to regain the lead.

Edwards began the race with AJ Allmendinger next to him on the front row. Allmendinger snatched the lead from Edwards on a restart on lap nine. Edwards regained the lead, however, getting off pit road ahead of Allmendinger during a cycle of green-flag pit stops around lap 20.

Stewart’s last victory came in June 2013 at Dover. Since then, he missed 15 races in 2013 with a broken leg and three races in 2014 after fellow driver Kevin Ward Jr. died in a fatal accident on August 9 at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park–which Ward’s family sued Stewart for his alleged involvement in Ward’s death–Stewart missed the first eight races of the 2016 season because of a broken back suffered in a dune buggy accident in California.

With the win, he is now eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and only needs to be in the top 30 when the regular season ends in 10 races. He sits 32nd in the standings, nine points away from 30th.

“It just puts so much behind him and closure to a lot of things to be back in Victory Lane,” said 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick, who drives for Stewart. “For the company to have him winning … I know he’s just had a miserable three years. To see him in Victory Lane — I’m happier for him than anything we’ve done in the past because it personally is such an accomplishment for him.”

PHOTO: SONOMA, CA – JUNE 26: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Code 3 Assoc/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, leads Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Cares Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 26, 2016 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)