Sonoma Raceway’s biggest weekend features best of NASCAR Cup Series and more

NASCAR

Drivers race in a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at the Grant Park 220. PHOTOS BY ERIN HOOLEY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Zane Smith drives in a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at the Grant Park 165.

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By Kienan O’Doherty

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat

It’s usually early June when race fans from across wine country and beyond flock to Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, the lone Northern California stop on the NASCAR calendar.

This year is a bit different, with the annual motorsports weekend taking place just over a month later, in the height of summer.

What hasn’t changed? Sunday is the big day — this Sunday, to be exact.

The 35th installment of NASCAR’s visit to Sonoma County is underway, with the sprawling Sears Point campus transformed into a three-day hotbed of action that concludes with the sport’s best competing on the road course Sunday.

“Thirty-five years running is pretty crazy,” said Sonoma Raceway executive vice president and GM Brian Flynn, who’s been coming to the track since 1991. “If you were here 15 years ago, 10 years ago, you almost wouldn’t recognize the place … now, when you mix everything together for a weekend like this, there’s a buzz — it’s electric and contagious and we’re all fired up.”

One of the more intriguing storylines concerning this year’s race is the fact that it comes right after the Cup series’ Chicago Street Race, another road course. For the past two years, Sonoma has followed the Enjoy Illinois 300 in Madison, Illinois, which takes place on a traditional oval track.

In fact, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 will mark the third time this month Cup series drivers have raced on a road course, something not normally seen in the oval-dominated field. It started with Mexico City, then Chicago, and now Sonoma.

Defending champion Kyle Larson, an Elk Grove native, will be looking for his third career win at the track. Last year, Larson took the lead after a three-car battle with eight laps to go to win the event for the second time.

Should he lift the Champion’s Goblet once more, he will move up to third in all-time wins at Sonoma, behind Jeff Gordon (five) and Martin Truex Jr. (four).

“They had repaved the track last year, so it was different for the teams,” Larson told The Press Democrat in April. “Our team usually does a good job of adjusting to it, but now that teams have had a full racing year, they’re all going to come back and we’re all going to be pretty similar on speed. Everybody will be better.”

Larson currently sits in third place in the Cup Series standings with 613 points. He has three wins this season, taking the titles at Miami, Bristol and Kansas. He also has 12 top 10 finishes, nine top 5 finishes, and leads the field with 23 playoff points.

He trails Chase Elliott and William Byron, but a win at Sonoma could see him shoot to the top of the pack. He will also face stiff competition from Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, who also have three wins apiece this season.

Another key aspect of the race concerns the television rights, which have gone back to TNT for the first time since 2014. That means an end to the raceway’s 10-year run as Fox’s NASCAR season finale.

“We had a great run with Fox for a lot of years, but now we’re in the Turner window,” Flynn said. “Turner wanted us in their broadcast, and they’ve been great to work with and we’re excited for the events this weekend.”

With the ARCA Menards General Tire 200 sports car race kicked things off Friday, with NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 today.

The main event, Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, begins at 12:30 p.m.

Tickets for Sunday’s race remain available at sonomaraceway.com and can also be purchased at Save Mart, Lucky or FoodMaxx stores across Northern California.