If you want to look for one of the greatest NASCAR road races of all time, you don’t have to go very far. One year, to be exact.
Last year at Sonoma Raceway, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin waged a race for the ages in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Stewart, the three-time champion in his final season of NASCAR racing, got valuable track position in the race when his Stewart-Haas Racing crew chief Mike Bugarewicz short-pitted Stewart to get him out front.
But as the laps wound down at Sonoma, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was on much fresher tires, which meant he could pressure Stewart relentlessly.