SONOMA, Calif. — The NASCAR Cup Series arrives at a road course for the second time this season, heading west to Sonoma Raceway.
Cindric Shuffles The Playoff Grid
With his right-place, right-time victory last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway, Austin Cindric catapulted into the playoff picture.
Trailing Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney with two laps to go, Blaney ran out of fuel – handing the victory to Cindric for the second triumph of his career.
Because he was previously below the cutline, other drivers felt the brunt of Cindric’s win.
Nine drivers are locked into the playoffs with victories, while seven more would qualify based on points. Chase Briscoe trails Chris Buescher by 10 points for the final spot, while two-time champions Joey Logano and Kyle Busch are 18th and 19th, respectively. Busch entered the Gateway weekend 15th on the playoff grid before contact with Kyle Larson resulted in a crash and an early exit.
Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., both winners and playoff drivers last season, are well outside the top 20. Â
Waiver Granted
On Tuesday, NASCAR officials granted Kyle Larson a waiver to maintain his playoff eligibility after missing the Coca-Cola 600 over Memorial Day weekend.
Larson elected to stay in Indianapolis and run the Indy 500 after inclement weather pushed back the start of the race four hours. After finishing 18th in Indy, he immediately flew to Charlotte Motor Speedway after the race with the intention of relieving Justin Allgaier in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. However, storms arrived just as Larson did. The race got red-flagged after 249 laps and never continued.
By missing the crown jewel, Larson dropped from first to third in driver’s points.
NASCAR didn’t land on a decision following the Charlotte race weekend and waited an additional week to finalize its call under the unordinary circumstances.
Now back to second in points, Larson has 17 playoff points and trails Denny Hamlin by 21 for the overall points lead. He won at Sonoma in 2021 and has four poles at the 1.99-mile, 12-turn circuit.
Truex’s Success In Wine Country
No driver has more victories at Sonoma than Jeff Gordon, who won five times over his illustrious career.
But on Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. can tie that.
Truex has four victories in 17 starts in wine country: 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2023. He conquered the multi-elevational road course last year by leading 51 of 110 laps as he earned 53 of 60 possible points.
A fifth win at Sonoma would be the most at any track during Truex’s career. It’d also be his sixth road course win, as he also triumphed at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International en route to the championship in 2017.
Heading into the 16th race of the campaign, Truex is fourth in points but lacks a victory. Though, he easily could’ve already had two.
At Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Easter Sunday, Truex dominated and led 228 laps before a caution with two laps to go ultimately thwarted his hopes. He came for service and lost the lead on pit road, eventually getting bested by teammate Denny Hamlin in overtime. At Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, Truex seemingly had the car to beat before his car picked up nose damage late in the race.
Can Truex score his first victory since New Hampshire Motor Speedway last July?
Other Road Course Kings
Besides Truex, 13 other active Cup drivers have victories on road courses with 2020 champion Chase Elliott holding the most with seven. However, Elliott has never won at Sonoma.
Busch and Larson each have four road course wins, while Tyler Reddick and A.J. Allmendinger each have three triumphs on twisting circuits. Allmendinger will drive the No. 16 entry for Kaulig Racing this weekend.
Though Shane van Gisbergen isn’t running the Cup Series race on Sunday, two other Supercars regulars will be. Will Brown (No. 33) and Cam Waters (No. 60) are making their Cup debuts on Sunday for Richard Childress Racing and RFK Racing, respectively. Brown is making his first NASCAR start while Waters made two Craftsman Truck Series oval starts this year for ThorSport Racing. Watch all Supercars races on SPEED SPORT 1.
A New Surface
Sonoma Raceway completed a repave during the offseason, a 61-day project that concluded in February. Goodyear completed a tire test at the end of March with Ross Chastain (Chevrolet), Josh Berry (Ford) and Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) representing the three manufacturers.
Teams in both the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series will have 50-minute practice sessions Friday afternoon to adjust to the new surface. It’s the first time in 23 years that Sonoma has been completely repaved.
Race Information
Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and will air on FOX. It’s the final race of the season on FOX networks before NBC and USA Network take over for the final 20 races.
Despite practice on Friday, teams will qualify Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The 110-lap event is 218.9 miles long with stage breaks after laps 25 and 55. The purse is $8,426,274.
