RELATED: Full breakdown of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Sonoma stats
For his final full-time season as a driver, NASCAR.com will offer an analytical preview on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ahead of every remaining Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.
Race: Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway
Date: June 25, 3 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Previous five results at Sonoma: 11th, 7th, 3rd, 12th, 23rd
Notable: In his last three starts at Sonoma, Earnhardt has earned three consecutive top-11 finishes, including a career-best third place in 2014. That finish was also his first top-five at the road course. In 17 career Sonoma starts, Earnhardt has just one DNF and nine laps led in addition to having completed 95.3 percent of the laps run.
Memorable moment: Although Earnhardt is winless at Sonoma, he admitted his 2014 result of third felt like a victory without the trophy. Not only was it a career-best result, things finally fell into place to earn a finish he and his team were deserving of as it was Earnhardt’s first top 10 at the track in 15 tries. It was also one of Earnhardt’s more skillful driving exhibitions on the 12-turn course as he worked his way up the leaderboard from a 17th starting position to contend with the frontrunners.
Quotable: “We’ve had great race cars at the road courses the last few years, which has helped me a lot,” Earnhardt said this week in a team release. “Sonoma is the most challenging track that I race at. We’ve just got to take care of our car and make it through to the end.”