Top 5 Races In NASCAR’s Sonoma History

Sunday’s Toyota Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET/NBCSN/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will mark the 30th year the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has been coming to the Sonoma Raceway. It all started back in 1989.

With that being said, here are the top five races in the events history.

  1. June 26, 2016:Tony Stewart claims the last victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career with a last-lap pass of Denny Hamlin in the hairpin at Turn 11. It marked his third Sonoma Raceway win and snapped an 84-race winless streak. It also made his playoff eligible after missing a handful of races earlier that season.
  2. June 20, 2010: Marcos Ambrose seemingly had victory well in-hand, but the Australian driver stalled his car heading up to Turn 2 while trying to save fuel under caution late in the race. That allowed Jimmie Johnson to overtake the lead and cruise to his first NASCAR Cup Series road-course win.
  3. June 9, 1991: The 1991 race ended in controversial fashion. With seven laps left in the race, Mark Martin tried to pass Tommy Kendall, subbing for an injured Kyle Petty. The two made contact, resulting in Martin crashing into the tire barrier on a pull-over site and Kendall cutting his tire. The lead went to Davey Allison. Then, with two laps left, pole-sitter Rudd passed Allison for the lead but Allison spun out from contact in the final turn. Rudd led to the white flag and was contending to win the race, his second Sonoma victory, and to advance his championship points to the lead. However, as he came around to take the win, Rudd was black-flagged just three feet from the finish line. Allison was declared the winner of the race with Rudd’s controversial penalty while Rudd finished in second place.
  4. May 7, 1995: Dale Earnhardt wins his only NASCAR road-course race at then-Sears Point Raceway after passing Mark Martin in the Carousel (Turn 5-6) with less than 10 laps remaining.
  5. June 25, 2006:Jeff Gordon captures his fifth NASCAR Cup Series win in Sonoma, a track record.  Gordon maintains the track record for most laps lead by a race winner in a single race (92 laps, 2004) and most pole positions (five).

Honorable Mention

June 7, 1992:Ernie Irvan claims his first Sonoma victory in the Save Mart Supermarkets 300. Irvan was black-flagged at the start after crossing the starting line ahead of pole winner Ricky Rudd, but came back to pass 41 cars to take the checkered flag.

June 11, 1989:Ricky Rudd wins the inaugural Winston Cup Series race at then-Sears Point Raceway, beating Rusty Wallace by just 1.1 seconds after battling back and forth through the corners. Bill Elliott was third and Dale Earnhardt fourth.

June 26, 2011:After Tony Stewart spun Brian Vickers in Turn 11 earlier in the race, Vickers retaliated by sending Stewart into the tire pack at Turn 11, leaving the No. 14 propped on the tire wall at the hairpin. Afterward, Stewart said he spun Vickers for blocking and he was expecting the retaliation.

June 28, 2015:Kyle Busch claims his second Sonoma victory en route to his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. It was Busch’s first victory of the year after missing 11 races due to injuries sustained in an XFINITY Series crash in Daytona.