RELATED: Big fantasy week at Sonoma — get our advice
SAN FRANCISCO — Looking out over a sunny and scenic San Francisco Bay — Alcatraz Island in the foreground and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance — reigning Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin lunched with media members on Thursday ahead of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at nearby Sonoma Raceway.
It’s the first of two road course NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races of the season and the challenging 1.99-mile, 12-turn Northern California track has crowned seven different race winners in the last seven years.
Kasey Kahne (2009), Jimmie Johnson (2010), Clint Bowyer (2012) and Carl Edwards (2014) are on that list. Martin Truex Jr. (2013) and Kurt Busch (2011) are also among the recent victors.
And who could forget Kyle Busch‘s triumphant win here last year — his first victory since returning from severe leg injuries after missing the first 11 races of the year. He went on to win three of the next four races after Sonoma, including three in a row, to ensure his place in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason field, and he ultimately hoisted his first championship trophy.
With a new Chase format that rewards regular-season winners with a position in the 16-driver, 10-race playoff format, the emphasis on winning has never been greater. It also has created a unique set of circumstances where early-season winners feel they can use other races to test new ideas and feel out nuances to their car that may pay out in the fall playoffs.
But because there is no road course in the 10-race Chase, this week’s stop at Sonoma Raceway is a unique offering on the schedule.
And Hamlin — who has yet to win on a road course — says the lack of a road course event in the Chase does affect the approach this weekend.
“There really isn’t any experimenting here,” Hamlin said. “Unless someone in the road-course department has come up with a different setup and is like, ‘Let’s try this,’ you’re really not coming with an experimental car or anything like that. This is what you’ve got.
“This is a big event, we take a lot of pride in running really well out here in Sonoma. It’s a long way to come just to go through any motions and pack up on plane and go home. I get as frustrated here as anywhere when I don’t run well and I’m as proud, and have my chest out when I do run well. It’s a big race for us personally and for team members. It’d be a trophy I’d love to have.”
WATCH: Hamlin previews race while driving through city
The other side of it is that for drivers who have excelled on road courses, the Sonoma race — and the Watkins Glen event in August — stand as two prime opportunities to earn a Chase playoff spot.
Jamie McMurray, who has four top-five finishes in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson — who won Daytona’s 24-hour sports car race in 2015 — consider these two tracks to be potential difference-makers. They both are still looking for a win this season.
McMurray has won three pole positions at Sonoma, but his best showing was a runner-up back in 2004. His only other top-five finish (fourth place) came two years ago. Larson has two top-five starts at Sonoma, but his best Cup finish is 15th here last year.
Who could forget AJ Allmendinger‘s dramatic and emotional victory at Watkins Glen in 2014? The California native won the pole at Sonoma last year — and started on the outside pole in 2014 — but ended up in 37th place both times. His best Sonoma showing is seventh in 2009.
“There’s 10 of us (2016 race winners) with nothing to lose, and we’re being super aggressive right now,” said Hamlin, driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 FedEx Toyota. “Then the other 30, this is their opportunity to punch their ticket in to the Chase and they are getting more aggressive.
“No one is looking at points at Sonoma. They’re out here to win. It’s the only type of course I haven’t won on, except in the XFINITY Series. It used to be I’d come to the road-course races and finish in the top 10 pretty easily. Now it’s just a battle.”