The 2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on June 24, 2012, at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. Contested over 110 laps, it was the sixteenth race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and the first of two road course competitions on the schedule. Clint Bowyer of Michael Waltrip Racing took his first win of the season, while Tony Stewart finished second and Kurt Busch finished third.

Report

Background Sonoma Raceway is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Watkins Glen International. The standard road course at Infineon Raceway is a 12-turn course that is long; the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns 5 and 6, shortening the course to . The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout. In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn, 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of .

Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 565 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 561. Greg Biffle was third in the Drivers' Championship with 548, sixteen points ahead of Jimmie Johnson and thirty-four ahead of Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth. Kevin Harvick, with 504, was seven points ahead of Martin Truex Jr., as Tony Stewart with 491 points, was ten ahead of Clint Bowyer and thirty-three in front of Brad Keselowski. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 105 points, eighteen points ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 77 points, was twenty-eight points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Kurt Busch was the defending race winner.

Five teams chose to temporarily replace their regular drivers with road course ringers. One of which was Tommy Baldwin Racing, who replaced regular David Reutimann with Tomy Drissi, while another was FAS Lane Racing who chose Boris Said to replace regular drivers, Reed Sorenson and Ken Schrader. Humphrey Smith Racing also changed drivers, with Mike Bliss, racing at Road America in the Nationwide Series on the weekend, being replaced with Chris Cook, while Phil Parsons Racing replaced Michael McDowell with David Mayhew and Inception Motorsports co-owner David Stremme stepped aside in favor of Brian Simo. Robby Gordon also qualified for his first race since Auto Club Speedway.

Practice and qualifying

Three practice sessions were scheduled to be held before the Sunday race—one on June 22, 2012, and two on June 23, 2012. The first session lasted 90 minutes. The second session was 45 minutes, while the final session finished after 75 minutes. Jeff Gordon was quickest with a time of 75.653 seconds in the first session, less than two-tenths of a second faster than Truex Jr. Bowyer was just off Truex Jr.'s pace, followed by Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Newman. Marcos Ambrose was seventh, still within a second of Gordon's time.

Forty-four cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Ambrose clinched the second pole position of his career, with a record setting time of 75.203 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Gordon. Johnson qualified third, Biffle took fourth, and Truex Jr. started fifth. Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Kenseth and Newman rounded out the top ten. The driver that failed to qualify for the race was Brian Simo. Following the qualifying session, Ambrose stated, "I beat myself up here in 2010.It was nothing to do with the car or the track. It was me. I know what not to do on the last restart." Afterward, third-placed Johnson commented, "It was on edge the whole lap. I don't want to drive 110 laps the way it drove today."

In the second practice session, Gordon remained quickest with a time of 75.961 seconds. Ambrose, with a time of 76.718, was second quickest, ahead of Allmendinger, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Keselowski. Kyle Busch, Johnson, Truex Jr., Bowyer, and McMurray completed the first ten positions. Gordon continued to be quickest through the third practice session with a time of 76.846, 0.885 slower than his fastest lap during the second session. Biffle was second quickest in the session, while Montoya was scored third. Johnson followed in the fourth position ahead of Allmendinger, Hamlin and Edwards. Truex Jr., Kahne and Kyle Busch rounded out the first ten positions in eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.

Race The race, the fifteenth in the season, began at 3:21 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on TNT. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race with the air temperature around . Track minister Tim Boeve began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Next, University of California Straw Hat Band performed the national anthem, while Tony LaRussa and Toby Appleton, a Toyota Military Hero, gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, David Gilliland had to start last on the grid after missing the mandatory drivers meeting. After leading 13 laps, Gordon would reach the 23,000 career laps led mark, the most of any current Sprint Cup Series driver.

Results

Qualifying Grid Driver Team Manufacturer 1 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 75.203 95.262 2 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75.357 95.607 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75.574 94.975 4 16 Greg Biffle Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 75.632 94.722 5 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 75.661 94.686 6 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 75.666 94.679 7 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75.704 94.632 8 51 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 75.764 94.557 9 17 Matt Kenseth Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 75.790 94.524 10 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 75.802 94.509 11 99 Carl Edwards Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 75.807 94.503 12 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 75.955 94.319 13 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 75.995 94.269 14 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 76.044 94.209 15 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 76.046 94.206 16 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 76.052 94.199 17 22 A. J. Allmendinger Penske Racing Dodge 76.064 94.184 18 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 76.129 94.103 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 76.192 94.026 20 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 76.220 93.991 21 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 76.254 93.949 22 95 Scott Speed Leavine Family Racing Ford 76.283 93.913 23 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 76.343 93.840 24 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 76.356 93.824 25 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 76.431 93.732 26 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 76.434 93.728 27 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 76,601 93.524 28 32 Boris Said FAS Lane Racing Ford 76.811 93.268 29 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 76.895 93.166 30 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 76.906 93.153 31 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 76.979 93.064 32 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 77.062 92.964 33 98 David Mayhew Phil Parsons Racing Ford 77.171 92.833 34 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 77.396 92.563 35 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 77.483 92.459 36 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 77.751 92.140 37 19 Chris Cook Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota 77.805 92.076 38 49 J. J. Yeley Robinson-Blakeney Racing Toyota 77.931 91.927 39 93 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 78.009 91.836 40 26 Josh Wise Front Row Motorsports Ford 78.100 91.729 41 10 Tomy Drissi Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 79.091 90.579 42 83 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota 80.187 89.341 43 33 Stephen Leicht Circle Sport Racing Chevrolet 78.136 91.686 30 Brian Simo Inception Motorsports Toyota 78.658 91.078

Notes  — David Gilliland started last on the grid because of missing the mandatory drivers meeting.  — Stephen Leicht also had to start in the rear of the grid after his team changed engines.

Race results

Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points 1 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 112 47 2 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 112 42 3 51 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 112 42 455 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 112 40 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 112 39 6 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 112 39 716 Greg Biffle Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 112 37 89 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 112 37 922 A. J. Allmendinger Penske Racing Dodge 112 35 1020 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 112 34 1131 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 112 33 122 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 112 32 1317 Matt Kenseth Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 112 31 145 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 112 30 1513 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 112 29 1629 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 112 28 1718 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 112 27 1839 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 112 26 191 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 112 25 2027 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 112 24 2199 Carl Edwards Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 112 23 2256 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 112 23 2388 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 112 21 2447 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 111 20 2595 Scott Speed Leavine Family Racing Ford 111 19 2638 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 111 18 2734 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 111 17 2843 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 110 16 2932 Boris Said FAS Lane Racing Ford 110 0 3026 Josh Wise Front Row Motorsports Ford 110 14 3183 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota 110 13 3278 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 109 12 3349 J. J. Yeley Robinson-Blakeney Racing Toyota 107 11 3442 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 107 10 3511 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 98 9 3693 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 92 8 3736 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 84 7 3810 Tomy Drissi Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 78 6 397 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 73 5 4098 David Mayhew Phil Parsons Racing Ford 25 0 4133 Stephen Leicht Circle Sport Racing Chevrolet 22 3 4219 Chris Cook Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota 13 2 4387 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 1 0

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Matt Kenseth596 2 Greg Biffle585 3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.582 4 Jimmie Johnson571 5 Tony Stewart533

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet111 2 Toyota93 3 Ford81 4 Dodge64

Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.

References