SONOMA, Calif. - Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway was calm and civil ... until it wasn't.
Some late calamity set up some strategy possibilities and Chase Elliott was there to pounce. The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet team ducked onto pit road for four tires when caution flew with 15 laps to go and after a couple more stoppages, rolled all the way back to a third-place finish.
Elliott was joined in the top 10 in Wine Country by teammate William Byron, who finished eighth.
"I was obviously pushing really hard," Elliott said of the final stretch. "(Crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) made a great call there to get us on offense and at least give us a shot. Overall, I thought our NAPA team did a good job. Had a fast NAPA Chevy all day."
The first two stages of the race were free of cautions save for the segment breaks. Per usual, the end of stages provided chances for strategy.
At the end of the first stage, all but a handful of cars short-pitted. Byron, who'd run second throughout most of the early going, still got out of the pits in time to salvage six stage points via fifth-place finish. Elliott also nabbed a single point in 10th.
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The second stage played out in a similar fashion with all of the Hendrick Motorsports cars showing speed. Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team was one of the few to stay out until the end of the segment and cashed in with nine stage points with a second-place showing. Byron rallied from his pit stop to come home 10th, good enough for a point as well.
From the outset, the intensity was ramped up in stage three. The first of four cautions in the stage flew early with a couple of cars opting to pit and try to stretch the fuel mileage from there.
However, another yellow came out with just 15 to go after a tire fell off of Cody Ware's car. Elliott pitted and was the first car off of pit road with 12 cars in front of him choosing to stay out. He gained two spots before another yellow waved with 11 to go and then three more before the final caution with seven laps left.
Taking a restart on the fourth row with four circuits remaining, Elliott quickly surged forward and made it to the top three before time and laps ran out. It was Elliott's fourth top-five result in the last five races.
Alex Bowman came home 19th, missing advancing in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge by one position. Larson endured a tough-luck finish, being collected in a couple of crashes late before finishing 35th.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns next week with a race at Dover Motor Speedway. The race is slated to start at 2 p.m. and will air on TNT.
RELATED: Win a wine cup and two diecasts with our Sonoma Raceway quiz!
Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
- Michael McDowell, No. 71
- Christopher Bell, No. 20
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54
- William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet
- Joey Logano, No. 22
- Kyle Busch, No. 8
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6
- Ryan Preece, No. 60
- Josh Berry, No. 21
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99
- Justin Haley, No. 7
- Chris Buescher, No. 17
- Ty Dillon, No. 10
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11
- Austin Dillon, No. 3
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34
- Cole Custer, No. 41
- Ross Chastain, No. 1
- Riley Herbst, No. 35
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23
- Zane Smith, No. 38
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
- Erik Jones, No. 43
- Austin Cindric, No. 2
- Katherine Legge, No. 78
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
- Cody Ware, No. 51
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12
- Noah Gragson, No. 4