Sonoma Wrap-Up: Truex Jr. Snaps Winless Streak
Martin Truex Jr. cruised to a convincing win Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, snapping a 218-race winless streak.
Truex Jr. last visited victory lane at Dover International Raceway in June, 2007, where he captured his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. Truex Jr. says the 2007 win was a blur, and that it passed by too quickly, so he made sure to savor the emotional victory captured in "Wine Country."
"I was a freaking mess," he said. "I tried to key the radio once and I couldn't even talk. So I thought, 'OK, I'm going to do some donuts and wave to the fans.' But after I stopped the first time and did that, I calmed down a little bit and I just wanted to make sure I took my time coming back, because I remember at Dover it all happens way too fast. You never know when you're going to get that opportunity again."
Truex Jr., who has never been known as a threat on the road courses, managed to keep his nose clean and run in the top five for a majority of the day. He then moved into the lead on the final restart and stretched a healthy six second gap over Juan Pablo Montoya, who was running second before runnng out of fuel on the final lap.
Jeff Gordon moved into second as Montoya slowed through the esses. Carl Edwards finished third, followed by Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer.
We did it!!!!!!!! Holy hell yes!!! @napaknowhow @MWRteam thank you so much. Today was unbelievable.
— Martin Truex Jr. (@MartinTruexJr56) June 24, 2013
I'm so happy for @MartinTruexJr56 Great driver, great person, and a great teammate. @MWRteam ??
— Mark Martin (@55MarkMartin) June 23, 2013
So f'ing happy for my bro!! No one deserves it more #nascar
— Ryan Truex (@Ryan_Truex) June 23, 2013
Well damn! We had a really fast hot rod, just couldn't get on right side of strategy. Happy for @napaknowhow and @MartinTruexJr56
— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) June 23, 2013
Congrats @MartinTruexJr56 and the 56 team on the win.
— Kasey Kahne (@kaseykahne) June 23, 2013
Congrats to @MartinTruexJr56 & @mw55 @MWRteam for the win. Very strong car today
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) June 24, 2013
Almost forgot to give a shout out to @MartinTruexJr56 long over due!
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) June 24, 2013
That was really damn cool. @napaknowhow in the Napa Valley. Lets have a toast! Great job @MartinTruexJr56 @MWRteam @toyotaracing
— Michael Waltrip (@mw55) June 24, 2013
Hell yeah congrats to @MartinTruexJr56 and @SherryPollex on a very deserving win! Couldn't be happier for them!
— Regan Smith (@ReganSmith) June 23, 2013
Congrats to @martintruexjr56. Huge win. Can't imagine how good it must feel to finally get another win!!! Enjoy it man
— Justin Allgaier (@J_Allgaier) June 23, 2013