The 2017 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 25, 2017, at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. Contested over 110 laps on the road course, it was the 16th race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 15 Kevin O'Connell Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Alon Day BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 33 Boris Said Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Billy Johnson Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Josh Bilicki (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 55 Tommy Regan Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 72 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 75.740 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 75.740 94.587 2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 76.158 94.068 3 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 76.470 93.684Official first practice results
Final practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 75.899 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 75.899 94.389 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75.935 94.344 3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 76.017 94.242Official final practice results
Qualifying
Kyle Larson scored the pole for the race with a time of 75.177 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 142 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 75.645 75.177 21 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 75.366 75.249 378 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 75.201 75.453 418 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75.229 75.459 547 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 75.587 75.553 610 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 75.515 75.591 721 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 75.646 75.637 824 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75.117 75.781 937 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 75.370 75.904 1088 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75.696 75.914 1119 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75.686 75.961 124 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 75.508 76.098 1314 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas RacingFord 75.698 — 1411 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75.946 — 1527 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 76.000 — 1695 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 76.009 — 1741 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas RacingFord 76.040 — 1822 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 76.104 — 193 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 76.126 — 2031 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 76.140 — 215 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 76.167 — 2217 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 76.189 — 232 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 76.219 — 2448 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 76.248 — 256 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 76.278 — 2643 Billy Johnson Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 76.308 — 2732 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 76.509 — 2838 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 76.511 — 2972 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 76.605 — 3077 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 76.647 — 3134 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 76.781 — 3223 Alon Day BK Racing Toyota 77.007 — 3351 Josh Bilicki (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 77.102 — 3433 Boris Said Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 77.109 — 3513 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 77.394 — 3615 Kevin O'Connell Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 79.980 — 3755 Tommy Regan Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 81.826 — 3820 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 0.000 — Official qualifying results
Race First stage Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag at 3:22 p.m. With Sonoma Raceway being a more technical (rhythm) road course, brake usage is rather heavy, especially going into the 90° hairpin Turn 11. A few drivers locked up the brakes going into the turn in the early laps, including Daniel Suárez, who was making his first ever start at Sonoma. He flat-spotted his tires on the second lap and made an unscheduled stop the following lap to replace them. Two laps later, teammate Kyle Busch did the same. By the ninth lap, Martin Truex Jr. caught Larson and set him up for a pass heading into Turn 11 to take the race lead. Caution flew for the first time on lap 14 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. locked up his brakes and his car spun counter-clockwise, sending him through the hairpin and into the path of cars ahead, causing slight damage to Danica Patrick. Larson also suffered minor damage when he clipped Earnhardt. Chris Buescher took over the race lead because he opted not to pit under the caution.
The race restarted on lap 17 and Buescher led for another lap before teammate A. J. Allmendinger, on fresher tires, out-braked him going into Turn 10 to take the lead. Truex worked his way up to him, passed him entering Turn 11 to retake the lead and drove on to win the first stage on lap 25. Caution flew moments later for the completion of the stage.
Second stage A lap after the ensuing restart on lap 30, Patrick (outside), Earnhardt (middle) and Larson (inside) tried to round Turn 4a three-wide, sending Earnhardt into the right-rear corner of Patrick and spinning her out into the path of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who t-boned the drivers-side of her car. This brought out the third caution.
The race resumed on lap 33. Going into Turn 11 on the same lap, Allmendinger was clipped by Larson and spun in the hairpin. He was clipped by Clint Bowyer, but the race remained green. A caution did fly five laps later, however, for a piece of sheet metal in Turn 11.
Returning to green on lap 40, a number of cars – including race leader Truex – opted to short-pit the end of the second stage to set them up for the end of the race and because they didn't pit under the first stage break. This handed the race lead to Jimmie Johnson, who drove on to win the second stage. Caution flew moments later for the completion of the stage. Denny Hamlin assumed the race lead by electing not to pit.
Final stage
The race restarted with 56 laps to go. With 47 to go, Busch took advantage of Hamlin's slip into Turn 11 to take the lead, only to allow Kevin Harvick to pass him unchallenged on the frontstretch two laps later. With 43 to go, Truex caught Harvick and out-braked him entering Turn 11 to retake the lead. On the following lap, cars were hitting pit road to make their final stop of the race. Truex did so with 40 to go, and a slow stop shuffled him behind Harvick in the running order. Jamie McMurray assumed the lead with 39 to go before pitting the next time around, handing the lead to Brad Keselowski, who was hoping for a caution.
Shortly after his slow stop, Truex reported he was losing a cylinder (engine was failing). He was fading at first, but then reported the problem had subsided. He worked his way up to third before making an unscheduled stop with 24 to go and subsequently to the garage for an engine failure.
With 24 to go, Harvick had closed the gap to Keselowski to 1.3 seconds. Two laps later, Harvick made the race-winning pass on Keselowski rounding Turn 7a and set sail. On the final lap, Kasey Kahne slammed the barriers on the frontstretch as Harvick was coming to the line. This ended the race under caution and Harvick, who had a nine-second lead over second-place Bowyer, drove on to victory.
Race results
Stage results
Stage 1 Laps: 25
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 102 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 93 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 84 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 75 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 66 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 57 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 39 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 210 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 1Official stage one results
Stage 2 Laps: 25
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 102 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 93 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 84 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 66 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 57 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 48 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 39 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 210 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1Official stage two results
Final stage results
Stage 3 Laps: 60