After taking Father’s Day Weekend off, NASCAR gets back to racing this week with the season’s first road course competition in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
The NASCAR drivers and teams will face the unique challenge that comes only a couple of times a year. Although this season the teams will race a third road course that is being called a “roval,” part oval track and part road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway September 30th. The two true road courses are Sonoma Raceway (this weekend) and Watkins Glen International (August 5th).
Racing a road course presents the challenges of many turns, racing uphill and downhill, needing good acceleration out of the turns and good speed for the straights. Just about any car in the field can win on a road course. The reason is that there are many factors that can result in being in position to get to the checkered flag first in this type of racing.
Those factors include pit strategy, fuel mileage and even being in the right place at the right time. Passing on road courses is typically tougher than any other track. Make the move at the wrong time and you can go off track. Hold up somebody too long and their impatience can result in a multi-car accident. However, with patience and timing a driver can move forward in the field to get in position to win the race. That is if everything falls into place with the overall race strategy they come up with.
Let’s take a look at the data for the track and race the drivers and teams will face this weekend.
Sonoma Raceway Data
Track Size: 1.99-miles
Number of Turns: 12
Toyota/Save Mart 350 Data
Season Race #: 16 of 36 (06-25-17)
Race Length: 110 laps / 219 miles / 350 Kilometers
Stage 1 and 2 Length: 25 laps (each)
Final Stage Length: 60 laps
What drivers have done well on the road course of Sonoma Raceway during their careers? Let’s take a look.
Top 10 Driver Ratings at Sonoma
Kurt Busch …………………………….. 107.5
Jimmie Johnson ………………………. 99.6
Kevin Harvick ………………………….. 91.3
Kyle Busch ……………………………… 90.7
Clint Bowyer ……………………………. 90.1
Martin Truex Jr. ……………………….. 88.6
Ryan Newman …………………………. 87.0
Jamie McMurray ………………………. 86.4
AJ Allmendinger. ……………………… 84.9
Kasey Kahne …………………………… 84.8
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2017 races (13 total) among active drivers at Sonoma Raceway.
When it comes to winning at Sonoma Raceway there really is not a master among the active drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. There will be only seven drivers in the field this weekend that have won at the track. Kyle Busch is the only one among them with multiple wins. He won the races in 2008 and 2015 at the track.
The other six drivers that have won a single race are last year’s winner Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. (2013), Clint Bowyer (2012), Kurt Busch (2011), Jimmie Johnson (2010) and Kasey Kahne (2009).
There have been six drivers that have won at least one race so far this season in the first 15 races this season. Counting this weekend’s race there are 11 races remaining before the 16 driver grid will be set for the playoffs. It is unlikely that we will see 10 new winners in those remaining races. That means for many drivers this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 is an excellent opportunity to vault past the drivers with more points and take advantage of the “win and you’re in” scenario for the playoffs.
While road course racing does not have the speed that oval track racing has, it can often be more exciting to watch as the cars race around turns. Those turns include easy and hard turns as well as some hairpin curves for them to battle through for position to make the pass.
Which drivers will go of course? Which drivers will stay the course? Which teams will have the right strategy to put their drivers in position to win? We will find out when the green flag waives to start the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway this Sunday, June 24th starting at 2 PM central time (3 PM eastern time) in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
By: Buck Stevens
