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Martin Truex Jr. leads most laps, but exits Sonoma with late engine problem

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Martin Truex Jr. experienced engine issues exiting his pit stall, causing his day at Sonoma to end early.

Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps (25), as well as a Stage 1 victory in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

But that wasn’t enough for Truex to get to victory lane, as the engine in his Toyota Camry let go with 24 laps to go in the scheduled 110-lap event.

Truex was running third and apparently had been driving on seven cylinders for at least 10 laps when he pitted for service. His crew raised the hood on the car and tried to find the problem before sending him back out.

But upon leaving his pit stall, smoke came out from the rear of his car, he came to a stop before the pit road exit, and then took the car to the garage. Truex ended the day with a 37th-place finish, his worst showing and second DNF of the 2017 season.

“It’s very disappointing, we were sitting there running second on seven cylinders,” Truex told Fox Sports 1. “This Toyota was so good today. It was a crazy fast car.

“Sometimes, these things happen. We made good power, just weren’t able to go the whole distance today.”

With his Stage 1 win, Truex continues to have a dominating lead in the series with 11 stage wins.

Follow @JerryBonkowski