Another win for Hendrick Motorsports, another all-time NASCAR Cup Series record tied; Kyle Larson took the checkered flag ahead of Chase Elliott at Sonoma Raceway.
Kyle Larson secured his third victory of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season and the ninth of his career in Sunday afternoon’s Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
The win was his second in a row, marking the first time he had ever pulled off such a feat. He dominated last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the first three stages en route to the race victory, before dominating today’s race as well, winning the first two stages en route to the victory.
He won this afternoon’s 92-lap race around the 12-turn, 2.52-mile (4.056-kilometer) road course in Sonoma, California in overtime by 0.614 seconds over teammate Chase Elliott in second place.
As a result, Hendrick Motorsports have now recorded four consecutive 1-2 finishes.
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Rick Hendrick’s team, which tied the all-time Cup Series wins record with Elliott’s win at Circuit of the Americas two weeks ago and broke it with Larson’s win at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday, started this historic streak three weeks ago at Dover International Speedway.
Alex Bowman led a 1-2-3-4 sweep for the team at Dover International Speedway, just the fourth 1-2-3-4 sweep in Cup Series history, with Larson in second place, Elliott in third and William Byron in fourth.
Elliott then won at Circuit of the Americas ahead of Larson in second place before Larson won at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Sonoma Raceway ahead of Elliott in second on both occasions.
Only one other time in Cup Series history had a team recorded four consecutive 1-2 finishes, and it hadn’t happened since the 1956 season, when Carl Kiekhaefer’s team pulled it off.
Amid a streak of 16 consecutive victories, the team managed to reel off four consecutive 1-2 finishes (wins three, four, five and six of the streak), starting with the race at Langhorne Speedway that April when Buck Baker won ahead of Herb Thomas in second place.
At Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds the following weekend, Baker again won ahead of Thomas in second place, this time with teammate Speedy Thompson in third. Then at Columbia Speedway the following weekend, Thompson won ahead of Baker in second, and at Concord Speedway the next day, he won again ahead of Baker in second and Thomas in third.
The next race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway was won by Baker, but neither one of his teammates finished the race. His highest classified teammate was Thomas in 14th place.
Kiekhaefer’s team only competed in the Cup Series for two years, but in 190 entries, they secured 52 victories, including 22 in 1955 and 30 in 1956.
Will Hendrick Motorsports break this record in the next points-paying race on the schedule, the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway? This race, the first ever Cup Series race at the track, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 20.
Next Sunday’s race is the NASCAR All-Star Race, which is set to be broadcast live from Texas Motor Speedway on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. That race is set to be preceded by the NASCAR All-Star Open, which is set to be broadcast live on the same network beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. Larson won the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2019, and Elliott won it at Bristol Motor Speedway last year.