SONOMA — A small piece of debris on the track in the late stages of the race proved to be worth its weight in gold for Tony Stewart, who pulled off an improbable victory in Sunday’s 28th Annual Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Stewart (#14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet) started the 110-lap race from 10th position in the 40-car field and was not a factor through the first 85 laps as Carl Edwards (#19 Stanley Tools Toyota) and later Denny Hamlin (#11 FedEx Ford) held down the top spot.

At that point Stewart languished in the 18th position and was nursing his fuel and tires in the hopes of stretching his car to the finish without making another pit stop.

Rather than die a slow death Stewart and his crew chief, Michael Bugarewicz, decided to roll the dice and pit to allow him to go all out to the finish.

The daring move paid off in spades when the yellow caution came out one lap later due to a piece of debris on the track in Turn 11. Stewart quickly rotated to the front of the field as the other cars darted into the pits for their final stops.

“I heard Tony on the radio say ‘let’s pit, what do we have to lose?’ It was a bold move and it worked out perfect,” said team co-owner Gene Haas. “Those are the kind of strategies you can’t plan for, you just get lucky.”

Stewart got a great jump on the restart to grab the lead and then successfully hold off a determined challenge by Martin Truex Jr. (#78 Furniture Row Toyota) only to see Hamlin take up the chase with four laps to go. 

Stewart made a slight bobble when he hopped his tires going through the Turn 7 esses on the final lap opening the door for Hamlin to squeak past him, 

But Stewart was far from done.

He drove his car hard into the final corner, the notorious Turn 11 hairpin and when Hamlin pushed his car just a few feet wide of the apex, it was just the opening that Stewart needed. 

Stewart was able to get his front bumper inside of Hamlin’s right rear wheel, push Hamlin up into the wall coming out of the turn and dash down the straight to take the victory in dramatic fashion as the crowd roared its approval.

“I made a couple of mistakes on the last two laps, I used a bit too much brake in Turn 7 and it wheel hopped,” said Stewart who snapped an 84 race winless drought. “But if I could get to him, he knew what was coming.” 

Hamlin recovered to salvage second place just ahead of Joey Lagano (#22 Shell Pennzoil Ford), Edwards and Truex.

“The tires were hot and I didn’t run a low enough line in Turn 11,” explained Hamlin, a former teammate of Stewart. “Once I knew he had position and we had a wall on the other side of us, I knew there was a pretty good chance that I would end up in it.”

The win was huge for Stewart, age 45, who has announced that 2016 will be his final season in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition.  

After missing several races early in the season, NASCAR required Stewart to crack the top 30 in points and win at least one race by the end of the regular season in order to qualify for the Chase for the Championship.

Sunday’s win fulfilled one requirement and moved Stewart up from 40th to 32nd in points to keep alive his quest for a fourth championship.

After the race Hamlin offered Stewart his heartfelt congratulations.

“Tony has always treated me fair and being that it is his last season I figured his ‘giveness’ factor was going to be very low,” chuckled Hamlin.

Stewart’s win was déjà vu from 2015, when Kyle Busch picked up his first win of the season under similar circumstances to start his championship drive. 

“I drove like an idiot today. I was an A-hole out there, but I wasn’t going to leave anything on the table today,” smiled Stewart.

The win was Stewart’s third at Sonoma (2001, 05) and 49th overall in 598 Sprint Cup starts.

The series now heads to Daytona for the Coke Cola 400 on Saturday, July 2nd.

Sonoma Notes:

Pole sitter Chase Elliott, age 24 and son of NASCAR racing legend Bill Elliot, completed a daring pass of race leader Noah Gragson with three laps remaining to claim the win in Saturday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Chevys Fresh Mex 200.

Stewart and Ernie Irvan, a two-time winner at Sonoma in 1992 and 1994, were this year’s inductees to the Sonoma Raceway Hall of Fame.

It was announced that Toyota has re upped as co-sponsor of the race with Save Mart for the next three years.