NASCAR Flashback: Smoke rises one last time at Sonoma in 2016

Tony Stewart has one of the most decorated careers in NASCAR history. He is a three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, USAC Triple Crown Champion, and an IRL championship to name a few of his accomplishments. However, his career took a downward spiral and many doubted if he would win again after he suffered a leg injury in 2013 that caused Stewart to miss the majority of the second half of the season. His incident that caused the death of Kevin Ward Jr. In 2014 also led many to believe he would never win again. That all changed on one day in Sonoma in June of 2016.

The 2016 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was a fairly quiet one for a road course race, with only 4 cautions for 10 laps and 12 lead changes. The first caution came on Lap 7 when Clint Bowyer’s horrible season continued as he had a mechanical issue and would not continue the race. The second caution came out for debris on Lap 46. Kyle Busch took the lead as many drivers decided to pit under the caution.

The third caution of the race came out with 24 laps to go for debris in Turn 7. Stewart took the lead at this time. The 4th and final caution came with 18 laps to go for Michael McDowell's stalled car. The race resumed with 14 laps to go with Stewart leading and new second place driver Denny Hamlin hot on his heels.

On the final lap, Hamlin out-braked Stewart in Turn 7 and took the lead, but Hamlin left the inside open heading into Turn 11 and Stewart got to his inside and moved Hamlin into the wall to take the lead and the win. This would be Stewart's final career win as he would go on to make the Chase, but would not make much noise in the playoffs.