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SONOMA, Calif. (AP) – Martin Truex Jr. won the NASCAR Cup Series race in Sonoma on Sunday, using a smart pit strategy to reach his second career victory on the challenging road course.
Truex easily defeated Kevin Harvick for his second win in three weeks and his third win of the season in his Toyota Furniture Row Racing.
The defending champion of the Champions Cup waited for lap 81, eight laps later than Harvick. Truex and his team leader, Cole Pearn, seemed to be using a little cunning in the decision, bluffing a previous pit move and encouraging Harvick in the pit lane instead.
The decision left cooler tires on Truex's car in the far right and allowed him to pass Harvick for the head around the last hairpin bend with 20 laps to go.
"It was all Cole," Truex said. "I will do everything he wants to do." Great work by him today … Honestly, all you do is beg, hoping the warning will not come out and hope that the engine stays together. "
Truex's victory in the constructor race was the 18th of his career. He won his second career win at Sonoma in 2013 for Michael Waltrip Racing, making him the only rider to win twice in the last decade in Sonoma.
Cup leader Harvick went to the pits shortly after Truex overtook him, but never had the caution that would have been necessary for him to catch up. Clint Bowyer was third and Chase Elliott fourth.
Truex began his racing career as a kid who runs karts on road courses, and these ongoing skills are being demonstrated. After winning at Watkins Glen last year and winning Sonoma this year, his three road race wins are second among active drivers in the four non-oval track wins of Kyle Busch, who finished fifth at Sonoma .
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More AP car racing: www.racing.ap.org
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