The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will race for the first time this season on a road course. This week is the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
During the 2017 season to this point drivers have been getting used to less down force on the rear of the cars with the new package for the 2017 NASCAR season. This weekend that will likely not be an issue at all. The 1.99-mile track features 12 turns that will all but eliminate aerodynamics and the positive or negative effect it has on the cars and the driver’s ability to pass.
Instead the drivers will need handling and power to accelerate to make a pass. They will also need to have focus and nerve to make a pass. Often the only way to get around a car is to drive into one of the turns longer and faster and then “out break” the car you want to pass.
The problem with this maneuver is when a small mistake is made it can result in a car going of course and losing spots instead of gaining one in the very least. The worst-case scenario is that car going off course and sustaining race ending damage.
The focus will also need to maintained by keeping control of emotions. Often on road courses the “bump and run” is used in making a pass. This is where the driver bumps the car in front of it to push it up out of the grove and then speed pass to claim the spot. The result for the car that was bumped can be an angry driver that wants to retaliate. Sometimes the retaliation can severely damage not only the target car but also the driver’s car that was dealing out the retaliation.
What drivers are the best at keeping calm and outmaneuvering the other cars during their careers in NASCAR’s top division at Sonoma Raceway? Let’s take a look.
Top 10 Driver Ratings at Sonoma Raceway
- Kurt Busch – 107.8
- Jimmie Johnson – 99.9
- Clint Bowyer – 90.2
- Kyle Busch – 90.1
- Kyle Larson – 90.0
- Ryan Newman – 88.3
- Kevin Harvick – 87.9
- AJ Almendinger – 87.5
- Martin Truex Jr. – 87.0
- Kasey Kahne – 86.9
(Note: Driver Ratings compiled form 2005-2016 races (12 total) among active drivers at Sonoma Raceway.)
Kyle Busch is at the top of the list among the active drivers for wins at Sonoma Raceway. He has won twice at the track including this race in 2015. He is as close to a defending winner as there will be because the 2016 winner of the race was Tony Stewart who retired from driving in the NASCAR Cup Series following last season.
The other active drivers who have won at Sonoma all have only a single win each at the track during their careers. That list includes Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer.
That shows that although the drivers with previous wins and on the Top 10 Driver Ratings list may have an edge this weekend, every driver on the track has a good chance of getting to the end of the race for the win.
Factor in the stage racing which will be 25 laps each for the first two segments and 60 laps for the final segment, and this year’s road course race at Sonoma will really have some unknown variables that could determine the winner of the race.
The known and unknown factors will begin to tell the story Sunday afternoon, June 25th starting at 2:00 PM central time (3:00 PM eastern time) in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from the West Coast at Sonoma Raceway.
By: Buck Stevens
