NASCAR: Sonoma road course racing a reality this weekend

By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It’s been nearly two years since the NASCAR Cup Series has competed at Sonoma Raceway due to the pandemic cancelling the event last season, but with the ease of restrictions this year, NASCAR has been given the green flag and will return to the California road course this Sunday, June 6 for the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.   

Sonoma Raceway marks the third of seven road course events on the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule this season – Daytona RC (2/21), COTA (5/23), Sonoma (6/6), Road America (7/4), Watkins Glen (8/8), Indianapolis RC (8/15) and Charlotte ROVAL (10/10). The first two road course events have garnered two different winners. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell captured his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the Daytona Road Course and then just a few weeks ago Hendrick Motorsport’s star Chase Elliott secured his first win of 2021 in the inaugural race at the Circuit of The Americas.

NASCAR has competed on two different configurations at Sonoma Raceway. The 2018 race marked the final race for “The Chute”, which was introduced in 1998 and shortened the track to 1.949 miles and eliminated the famous Carousel. The Carousel, which will be in use again this year, returned to the track layout in 2019 and brings the length of the track to 2.52 miles. Sonoma Raceway is known for its hilly, multi-elevational layout, that provides several high-speed sections for competitors to navigate the 12-turn course. This weekend’s Cup race will be 90 laps (226.8 miles) and will be broken up into the three stages. The first two stage will be 20 laps each and the final stage will be 50 laps. 

Sonoma Raceway, originally known as Infineon Raceway, has hosted 31 NASCAR Cup Series races dating back to the inaugural event on June 11, 1989. The first Cup race at Sonoma was won by Ricky Rudd driving a Buick for car owner Kenny Bernstein. Rudd dominated the race leading 61 of the 74 scheduled laps.

Sonoma Raceway’s 31 NASCAR Cup Series races have produced 18 different pole winners and 19 different race winners. NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon leads the series in both poles (five: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005) and wins (five: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006). Hendrick Motorsport’s driver and most recent Coca-Cola 600 winner, Kyle Larson, leads all active drivers in the series in poles at Sonoma with three (2017, 2018, 2019). Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. leads all active drivers in wins at Sonoma with three (2013, 2018, 2019).

With some pandemic restrictions still in place, this weekend’s starting lineup for the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway was determined by Metric Qualifying and as a result Hendrick Motorsport’s teammates Kyle Larson will start on the pole and Chase Elliott will join him on the front row.   

JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. looks for third straight Sonoma victory

This weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. has the opportunity to win his third straight NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway and tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon for the series-most consecutive wins at the famous track in California. Gordon set the record of most consecutive wins at Sonoma from 1998-2000. 

“I’ve been waiting for a while to go back to Sonoma and try to get the three-peat,” Truex said. “Sonoma is such a fun track and it’s a great part of the country. It’s beautiful and always great weather. I can’t wait to get there and see all of our fans in California that we haven’t seen in quite a while.”

More impressively for Truex, is he has won the past two races on two different configurations. The 2018 race marked the final race for “The Chute”, which was introduced in 1998 and shortened the track to 1.949 miles and eliminated the famous Carousel. The Carousel, which will be in use again this year, returned to the track layout in 2019 and brings the track length to 2.52 miles. Truex and Ricky Rudd are the only two drivers to win NASCAR Cup Series races on both layouts.

In all, Truex has made 14 series starts at Sonoma posting three wins, four top fives and five top 10s. Truex leads the series in wins this season with three victories (Phoenix, Martinsville, and Darlington), but due to a 29th-place finish last weekend at Charlotte, he will start this weekend’s race at Sonoma in 19th.

Road Ace: Chase Elliott an early favorite on any road course

When it comes to road racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott is instantly mentioned as one of the favorites to watch, and with good reason. Elliott has won five of the last six road course races the NASCAR Cup Series has competed at; including the most recent at Circuit of The Americas a few weeks ago. Six of the 2020 series champion’s 12 career Cup wins have come on road courses (Watkins Glen, 2018, 2019; Charlotte ROVAL, 2019, 2020; Daytona RC, 2020; Circuit of The Americas, 2021).

With his latest foray into Victory Lane at Circuit of The Americas, Elliott has locked up his sixth NASCAR road course win and with it ties a bevy of NASCAR historic figures – Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace – for third on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series road course wins list. If Elliott were to win this weekend and get this seventh victory, he would move solely into third all-time in Cup road course wins, just one win shy of NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart in second with eight victories.

All-Time Top Road Course Winners in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Track They Won At

Elliott has made four series starts at Sonoma posting one top five and two top 10s.

Playoff Bubble: Reddick, Buescher expand points cushion at Charlotte

Just a few weeks ago the NASCAR Cup Series driver standing’s ‘Playoff Bubble’ was red hot with drivers swapping the last few eligible postseason spots each week, but a lot has happened since then; including several big points days for Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher who are looking pretty secure on points at the moment. But residing along the Playoff cutline exposes you to the chance of a new winner bumping you out of contention. 

Following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond in April, both Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher were outside the top 16 in the driver standings with a mountain of points ahead of them. Since then, both of drivers have methodically placed consistent finishes each week and slowly climbed their way back into contention. By Darlington in May, both drivers had earned their way back into the top 16 in points.

Then after top-10 finishes by Reddick and Buescher in the Coca-Cola 600 last weekend, Reddick sits 15th in the Playoff outlook with a stout 61 points up on the postseason cutline and Buescher is 16th with a comfortable 55 points up on the cutoff.

Just outside the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff cutoff sits Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto in 17th, 55 points back from Buescher. In the NASCAR Cup Series last outing at Sonoma, DiBenedetto ran lights out; he started 19th and raced his way up to a top-five finish (fourth). The impressive finish sparked a 10-race run last season that he scored six top-10 finishes in and earned his way into the Playoffs for the first time in his career. 

Sonoma could once again be the catalyst for DiBenedetto to right the ship and position himself for a run to the Playoffs. Reddick will be making his series track debut this weekend at Sonoma Raceway and Buescher’s best Sonoma finish is 12th back in 2018. 

Beach Boys: Several drivers enthused to head home to California

‘I wish they all could be California’. … drivers?

As the NASCAR Cup Series heads West to California, several of the competitors are looking forward to racing in front of their home state fans. Over NASCAR’s history 450 different drivers with their home state recorded as California have competed in at least one NASCAR national series race. Of the 450 Californian drivers in NASCAR, 43 have put up at least a win in one of the three NASCAR national series. In total, there are five drivers from California entered this weekend at Sonoma Raceway in the Toyota / Save Mart 350.  

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick from Bakersfield, California, leads all Californians in NASCAR national series wins with 119 victories – third-most in NASCAR all-time behind Kyle Busch (217) and Richard Petty (200). Harvick is the last driver from California to win at Sonoma Raceway taking the checkered flag back in 2017.

Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Cole Custer, is from Ladera Ranch, California. Custer will be making his series track debut at Sonoma this weekend and is looking for his first win of the season.  

Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto is from Grass Valley, California and has had Sonoma circled on the schedule since the series last visited the track in 2019. In his last start at Sonoma, DiBenedetto showcased his skills; starting 19th and scoring a top-five finish (fourth). 

Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Kyle Larson hails from Elk Grove, California and thanks to Metric Qualifying the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet will be starting from the pole for the fourth consecutive time at Sonoma Raceway. Larson has won the pole the last three times the series competed at Sonoma but has yet to translate that to a victory. His best finish at his hometown track is 10th in 2019.

Road Course Ringers worth a watch on Sunday

Finally, Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick is from Corning, California. Reddick has been hot as of late putting up seven top-10 finishes in the last nine races of the season. Reddick will be making his series track debut at Sonoma this weekend.

Road courses in NASCAR require a special set of skills that not everyone has.

A driver’s talent is constantly tested throughout each and every lap on a road course, to not only navigate the many different turns, but also wrestle the stockcar that glides underneath their fingertips. As of late, several Cup competitors have learned to master the balance of road racing competition and earn their way into Victory Lane. Nine former Cup road course winners are entered in this weekend’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, led by Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott with six road course victories.

Two drivers in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp looking to not see Elliott get his seventh road course win this weekend are Martin Truex Jr., who leads the series among active drivers in wins at Sonoma with three, and Kyle Busch, who also has multiple Sonoma wins (two). Both drivers have four Cup Series road course wins to their career and are looking for their fifth win this weekend. Truex is going for his third consecutive victory at Sonoma this weekend. Busch last won at Sonoma in 2015 and finished runner-up to Truex on the 2.52-mile configuration in 2019. Also, don’t count out their Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, who has a road course win at Watkins Glen in 2016, and Christopher Bell, who grabbed his first Cup career win earlier this season at Daytona Road Course.  Hamlin finished fifth in 2019 at Sonoma. Bell will be making his series track debut at Sonoma this weekend.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, like series driver standings leader Denny Hamlin, is still looking for his first win of the 2021 season and Sonoma could be the place he gets it. Harvick is the most recent NASCAR Cup Series winner at Sonoma not named Truex; hoisting the trophy in 2017.  And in his 19 career starts at the track, he has posted one win, six top fives and 10 top 10s (tied with Kurt Busch for most top 10s among active drivers). Harvick finished sixth at Sonoma in 2019.   

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch the only other former road course winner entered this weekend that has won at Sonoma Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series (2011). Busch is still looking for his first win of the season but has found success on the road courses finishing fourth at Daytona RC earlier this year. Busch finished 13th at Sonoma in 2019, the last time the series competed at the track. 

Active Cup Drivers With Road Course Wins & Where