Information By: HEATHER GRIFFIN / RICK WARE RACING – SONOMA, CA
RICK WARE RACING
Save Mart 350k
Date: June 9, 2024
Event: Save Mart 350k (Round 16 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway (1.99-mile, 10-turn road course)
Format: 110 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/30 laps/55 laps)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Chris Buescher of RFK Racing (Ford)
RWR Race Finish:
● Kaz Grala (Started 36th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 110 of 110 laps)
● Justin Haley (Started 27th, Finished 33rd / Steering, completed 88 of 110 laps)
RWR Points:
● Justin Haley (32nd with 209 points)
● Kaz Grala (35th with 136 points)
RWR Notes:
● This was Grala’s first NASCAR Cup Series start at Sonoma.
● This was Haley’s fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Sonoma. His best finish remains 12th, earned in June 2022.
Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Save Mart 350k to score his 26th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Sonoma. His margin of victory over second-place Michael McDowell was 4.258 seconds.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 22 laps.
● Twenty-seven of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Larson leaves Sonoma as the new championship leader with a 14-point advantage over second-place Chase Elliott.
Sound Bites:
“I’m really proud of the effort from the No. 15 team today. We started to lose power steering early in the race and it was a constant battle all day. Billy made really good adjustments and we were able to make good progress. With a couple more laps I think we could’ve had a few more spots, but overall it was a tough but good, rewarding day for the team.” – Kaz Grala, driver of the No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Tough way to end the race after Chris (Lawson, crew chief) and the team did a great job getting the No. 51 to a place where we could be competitive. We knew we were going to start off a little behind after spending most of practice working on a steering issue, but I felt like we had a good plan, and it was working in our favor. There are still plenty of races left and we showed we can run up front with some consistency, so we’ll keep working at it and move on to the next one.”– Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol on Sunday, June 16 at Iowa Speedway in Newton. The race begins at 7:00 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.