Posted on by Staff Report

Noah Gragson recovered from his own restart penalty and capitalized on Ryan Preece’s restart infraction Saturday afternoon to prevail in a frantic NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma Raceway. He had an upset stomach to prove it.

Gragson, a 20-year-old regular in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, posted his fifth career K&N West victory in his first appearance in the series in nearly three years. After punctuating his Procore 200 win with a burnout and an impromptu fence-climb, he vomited from the excitement.

“It’s like running a mile. If I’m throwing up, hopefully it’s not like I’m sick. I’m all right,” said Gragson, who survived multiple overtime attempts that pushed the race distance from 50 to 57 laps. “But if I’m throwing up after the race, I guess that means that I did a good job because I’ll be in Victory Lane hopefully. The only times I’ve thrown up after the races were when I’ve won, so it feels good.”

For more coverage: HomeTracks | FansChoice.tv

Gragson led the opening 27 laps until officials ruled that he jumped the restart, sending him deep in the running order. He roared back into contention and lined up in the second row behind Preece and Daniel Hemric for the final overtime attempt.

RELATED: Race results

Officials ruled that Preece jumped the final restart, clearing the way for Gragson to sidestep Hemric and outlast the carnage behind him to secure the win. It was his first trip to a NASCAR Victory Lane since winning a Gander Outdoors Truck Series race in May 2018 at Kansas Speedway.

“I guess it came back around there at the end with the 47 (Preece), and I don’t like winning a race like that,” Gragson said, “but, eye for an eye. It made it extremely challenging ’cause I had to work overly hard to be able to get back up to the front there in the late stages.”

Hemric was posted second with Austin Dillon, his Richard Childress Racing teammate in the Monster Energy Series, third. Xfinity Series regular Cole Custer took fourth with David Mayhew fifth. Preece was dropped to 20th place in the 31-car field, scored as the final driver on the lead lap.

Hailie Deegan, a winner in the series’ most recent race two weeks ago in Colorado, started from the pole position and wound up eighth.

Watch NASCAR K&N Pro Series race replays on NBCSN.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Kyle Larson will start from the Busch Pole in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for the third straight year at the California road course. Does he merit a spot in your Fantasy Live lineup? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration.

PLAY NOW: Set your lineup | How the game works | Tips to set your lineup

RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Sonoma:
1. William Byron
2. Clint Bowyer
3. Kurt Busch
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Chris Buescher
Garage: Martin Truex Jr.

To the rear: Daniel Suarez (engine change), Erik Jones (unapproved adjustments) and Ross Chastain (driver change).

RELATED: Odds for Sonoma | 10-lap averages | Weekend preview | Podcast: Fantasy Fastlane

Analysis: I made no secret on the podcast that I am valuing drivers that should be after stage points more than others for this race. That means, by in large, I am going after drivers without wins that need a good points day to improve their position in the standings. So with that said, I’m taking Byron, who’s starting second, and I think the No. 24 camp will play this like they did Pocono where he gobbled up stage points. Bowyer, Busch and Johnson are all winless and have strong Sonoma histories so they make the lineup. Buescher has been a favorite of mine all week and I’ve seen no reason to move away from that as I think he’ll benefit from running 12th-15th when the leaders pit and he can score some stage points.

Among the drivers with wins, I like Truex, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin the most here for combination of history and where I stand with usages. I’m going to plug Truex — the defending race winner — in the garage for now. Based on last year and the way crew chief Cole Pearn talked about strategy in general on the podcast, I don’t expect the No. 19 to score stage points so I will need to be confident that they can score a top five to activate him out of the garage.

Larson has looked strong this weekend, but I don’t trust the Sonoma history with him. He generally qualifies well — thanks for the five bonus points, Kyle  — but he has never finished better than 12th at the California road course and that scares me away from the play. I also gave consideration to Alex Bowman as well based on his solid 10- and 15-lap averages and the fact that he should chase the points.

For the bonus picks, I’m going with Joey Logano in Stage 1 — I think Penske will follow its Pocono playbook and try to nab playoff points — and Bowyer in Stage 2 with Truex taking the victory.

Each week in this space, we’ll also highlight two Props Challenge items for players.

MORE: Need Props help? The Action Network has you covered | Play the Props Challenge today

1. Will the polesitter lead the first eight laps of the race? Larson has a history of burning up his tires early in runs at Sonoma. In last year’s race, he led just two laps out of the gate. In 2017, he led the first nine. A split decision on past performance, but my gut leans toward the more recent result and so I say “No” to this one.

2. O/U 27.5 race points for Jimmie Johnson. I’m over on this one and not just because he’s in my lineup. If I was managing the 48 strategy, given his position in the points, I’d be looking to gather as much as I could in the stages and then let the chips fall wherever they do. I think Johnson should be able to grab at least nine stage points, so even a 15th-place finish would cover the over here. Count me in for that, especially when you consider he’s hit the over the past three years and finished between 11th and 13th in those races.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – Denny Hamlin wasn’t one of the drivers running off course in Turn 5 during practice and kicking up dirt and debris onto the racing surface.

But enough drivers had difficulty in the new corner—thanks to the reinstitution of the Sonoma Raceway carousel—that the competitors were greeted with a new berm in that corner when they came to the track for qualifying on Saturday.

RELATED: Sonoma schedule

Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, lobbied for curbing in the corner.

“Everybody was dumping their right sides off the race track and dumping dirt on the race track and kind of messing it up for the people that were behind them,” Busch said. “It’s going to get really dirty over there. Guys might be racing side-by-side during the race. The outside guy is definitely going to want to crowd the inside guy and go halfway into the dirt. So it was going to get interesting.

“If you’re a guy that’s leading the race—and you’re coming down to the last lap—just dump your tires into the dirt and the guy behind you is never going to catch you. It didn’t seem like it was all that smart not to have a curb over there.”

RELATED: Sonoma starting lineup

But the new berm didn’t faze Hamlin, who had the fastest Toyota in Saturday’s qualifying (sixth overall).

“It didn’t affect me any,” said Hamlin, who qualified one spot ahead of Busch. “I wasn’t one of the guys that was getting off the track.

“I thought it was good, because, obviously, when it gets down to the race, if you didn’t have that, you would just run in the dirt. It is unique for sure. We’re going to use every bit of the racetrack. I didn’t really use it to begin with, but I think it’s good that they can keep the track clean.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – Winning poles at Sonoma Raceway is nothing new for Kyle Larson, who proved that definitively on Saturday, powering his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet to his third straight top starting spot at the 2.52-mile road course, which features the addition of the carousel this year.

What has been far less predictable is Larson’s finishing position in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, a statistic Larson hopes to rectify on Sunday (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson has finished 26th and 14th in his last two outings at Sonoma and has never run better than 12th in five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track.

RELATED: See every car in the field | Qualifying results

“I guess the trend with my three poles is winning a pole and then struggling in the race,” said the 26-year-old from Elk Grove, California, who claimed his first Busch Pole Award of the season and the eighth of his career and tied Ricky Rudd for most consecutive poles at the track. “Hopefully, we’ll have something different for tomorrow. I feel good.

“We did a mock (qualifying) run yesterday in practice and ran a good lap. I kind of over-drove the first session and then the next session I said, ‘I’m going to calm down and not make any mistakes,’ and I probably under-drove just a little. In the carousel, I think I gave up a little speed, but I feel like I made up some time in other areas, too. It’s cool to get a third pole in a row here at my home track.”

Larson toured the 12-turn circuit in 94.784 seconds (95.712 mph), edging fellow Chevrolet driver William Byron (95.669 mph) by .043 seconds. Joey Logano qualified third at 95.618 mph in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

“I feel like my lap was pretty good,” said Logano, who was .094 seconds off the pole speed. “I was just a little loose. I feel like I got through it mainly pretty decent. I got a little loose off of (Turn) 10. If I could find one spot, I got too loose off 10 trying to throttle up too aggressively and stuck half my left sides up in the dirt and got loose and knocked a few mile an hour off on the exit, compared to what I would have been.

“Maybe that’s a tenth (of a second), maybe a half a tenth. I don’t know. I have to go back and look. All I needed was nine-hundredths, so that’s probably the spot I’m looking at.”

Chase Elliott qualified fourth, ahead of Daniel Suarez. Sixth-place Denny Hamlin had the fastest Toyota, edging Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., the defending race winner. Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman also advanced to the second round of time trials and will start ninth through 12th, respectively.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Kyle Larson’s success at the famed Sonoma Raceway is to some extent, a microcosm of his season.

He’s won the pole position for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the track for the past two years, but hasn’t been there at the finish to take home the big trophy. Similarly, the popular young driver has been good on the season – he won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race last month – but he’s still looking for his first points-paying victory. 

This could well be the track and the weekend that changes all that.

RELATED: Full schedule for Sonoma | Larson tops final practice

The Sonoma Raceway road course is essentially a home race track for the Elk Grove, California native. He fondly recalls coming to races as a fan when he was a young boy, even dressing in his racing hero Jeff Gordon’s kid-size fire suit. 

And the feel-good has continued as an adult. The day before his 2014 rookie series debut at the track, Larson won the pole and led every lap to claim the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West victory.

He’d love to replicate the good vibes and past performance in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And judging by his work in Friday’s opening two practice sessions, he’s a good bet. Larson led final practice in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

“We don’t ever come here and set up to get a pole,” Larson told reporters Friday afternoon. “We come here to try and win the race and have the set-up capable of winning the race. So it just happens to work out where I’ve been good for short-run kind of stuff here my whole career.

“It seems like it’s kind of the same thing again this weekend. So, I don’t know. We’ve tried all sorts of different stuff so maybe it’s just my fault why I’m only good at qualifying.”

In an unusual twist of fate, the fact Larson has only five previous Monster Energy Series starts at Sonoma may well work into his favor this weekend. The Sonoma track will feature a new look for the first time since 1997. And the change in course – extending it from 1.99-miles to 2.52-miles and adding the famous carousel turn – has garnered plenty of headlines and strong opinions. No one entered this weekend has ever run this longer track version in a Cup race.

RELATED: What drivers are saying about the carousel after practice

It certainly didn’t slow Larson down in the opening practice sessions. In fact, he even told reporters the new section of the course may well be his favorite part. 

“It’s just a few extra corners so it’s not a big deal I guess to any of us out there,” Larson said. “So yeah, we ran a good lap in our mock run today in practice, so I feel like I have a good shot at another pole tomorrow {Saturday). I would like to be better in race trim, but if we can get another pole it would be pretty cool.”

Larson is ranked 15th in the series driver standings – inside the top-16 cutoff to ultimately make the Playoffs – but with only an eight-point cushion over 17th place Ryan Newman. Larson is 14 points behind 14th place William Byron.

This weekend may well be a turning point for Larson. His season’s highs – such as earning his first All-Star Race victory – have been extraordinary, but his disappointments have been equally as resounding. Larson led a race best 143 laps at Atlanta, for example, but finished 12th.  And the perennial Playoff contender has as many DNFs as he does top-10s (four). His best effort of 2019 is third place at Dover in May. His last top 10 came a week after that – an eighth place run in Kansas.

Larson has never started worse than fifth in five Sonoma races, but has never finished better than 12th (2016). He’s hoping a new look for the track may translate into a new look for him after the race: sipping local wine in Victory Lane.

“I guess [it’s] not too frustrating with how our cars are running because I feel like our cars have been pretty good,” Larson said when asked about his season. “But as far as just bad luck or mistakes and things like that, that’s what’s been frustrating. But having a decently fast race car helps relieve some of that frustration.

“Kurt [Busch] has been running really good. I run pretty good most of the race and then kind of something seems to happen towards to the end. We’ve just got to clean up some things still and hopefully we can make the Playoffs and be hitting on all eight cylinders at the right time.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Hailie Deegan nabbed the pole position for Saturday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma Raceway. Deegan will be joined on the front row by Xfinity Series regular Noah Gragson, who qualified second.

HOME TRACKS: Deegan scores pole position | Qualifying results for K&N West race

Deegan won the Pro Series West’s most recent race at Colorado after last-lap contact with teammate Derek Kraus. She has two wins and now has two poles on the season in the series.

RELATED: Deegan on Kraus: ‘We resolved our conflict from last race’

The field for Saturday’s race is filled with some big names —  in addition to the K&N Pro Series West regulars, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Austin Dillon, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Preece will be in the race in an effort to get more seat time at the California road course. Cole Custer, who has three Xfinity Series wins, is also in the race.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West takes to the track at 4:45 p.m. ET at Sonoma. You can watch the race on FansChoice.tv.

WATCH: Saturday’s K&N West race on FansChoice.tv

Posted on by Pat DeCola

SONOMA, Calif. – Nobody likes a backseat driver, but not all passengers are seven-time championship winning crew chiefs.

Three of Hendrick Motorsports’ four drivers – William Byron, Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson — spun laps this week at Pahrump, Nevada’s Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, in preparation for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Sonoma Raceway. Each driver’s crew chief was on hand to pore over the data, but it was Byron’s pit boss, Chad Knaus, who actually took it to the next level and rode shotgun with his driver to get a better feel for what his sophomore talent is looking for.

RELATED: Full Sonoma schedule

“Communication’s getting better and more up front,” Byron said Friday at Sonoma. “Got a chance to take Chad out on the track and that was really fun. I think that’s going to help us this weekend — to kind of be able to relate to what’s going on and keep trying to improve.”

Turns out, “really fun” for the 21-year-old means making his crew chief – more than double his age at 47 – hang on for dear life.

“Every time we’d go through the braking zone, his head would fall forward and hit the dash. I liked that part,” Byron joked. “I think I probably ran my fastest lap with him in the car. It was fun, I really enjoyed it. …

“He seemed all right. He got really quiet, but seemed OK. He definitely got quiet so I wasn’t sure if he was getting sick.”

With Sonoma being a place where one of the three of Hendrick drivers could punch a ticket to the NASCAR Playoffs – Chase Elliott is already provisionally in via his Talladega win — the trio wanted to turn some laps at Spring Mountain before heading farther west to wine country.

Former road course ace Ron Fellows provided help, and they ran nose-to-tail for about 100 laps, finishing up by analyzing a multitude of data, primarily throttle and brake specs.

It was a text — ‘Hey, I want to get out there’ — from Knaus to Byron midway through the session, however, that could give the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet the edge he needs come Sunday.

“We stopped and he got in the passenger seat and really he just wants to learn what the car feels like and what I’m asking the car to do and how I want the car to work really well,” said Byron, currently 14th in points. “It’s helped us this weekend, because we know exactly where we want our car to perform well.”

Not all the laps were thrill rides, however, as Byron took the time to walk Knaus through the variable-length course corner-by-corner to explain what he was looking for.

“We would kind of run through laps and then we’d slow down and talk about them in each corner and kind of go through exactly what I felt like in each corner. I thought it was really, really good for us to do that. I think it’s just going to help make it more relatable for him when we’re talking about the car. He even admitted that just understanding what makes speed and what’s going to make us successful.”

The pairing was always going to feel odd to outsiders in the early going given just how long Knaus was paired with “Seven-Time” – same goes for the duo of Johnson and his new guy in Kevin Meendering – but it’s really starting to pay dividends as they settle in.

After struggling to maintain any kind of consistency in his rookie season last year en route to a 23rd-place points finish, Byron has bettered his average finish by nearly seven spots (22.1 to 15.7) and currently sits inside the provisional playoff field. The driver has also put his No. 24 Chevy out in front of the field for five straight races – the first time he’s led laps in five straight in any national series since 2016 in Gander Trucks. Byron also has started on the pole in two of the last three races.

This week’s laps at Spring Mountain are just the latest instance of the pair working on improving their communication – something Knaus and Johnson really honed after a rocky start, and that arguably helped propel them to their unprecedented run of five straight and seven total titles.

“He’s really open and honest with me about what we’re going to face when we get here,” Byron said. “He always asks me what he can do to help or what things can help me. I’ve been surprised at how vocal he’s been and how much we communicate throughout the week. Things like that I think are all good for us.

“I’ve been around him for a year now, in the debriefs and in the weekends and knowing how he worked with Jimmie and his team. I feel like there wasn’t much of a surprise (to how he is), honestly. He’s very direct, so you don’t have to worry about whether he’s trying to send you a message in a certain way or he’s trying to blow you off or whatever. He’ll tell you if you’re doing something wrong.”

As one of the youngest drivers in the series, Byron will still do some things wrong, of course – but he’s been doing a lot more right lately, and Knaus’ guidance is a key part in that development.

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

SONOMA, Calif. — The sport of stock car racing comes with its fair share of big-time decisions, big-time rewards and big-time consequences. For Hailie Deegan, the decision trigger and the weighted scale of risk vs. reward is a quick one evident from her bump and run on her teammate Derek Kraus at Colorado in early June.

MORE: Grassroots coverage with Home Tracks | Deegan wins at Colorado on last lap

Deegan, who was featured on NASCAR.com’s YouTube series “10-Minute Tour” at Sonoma Raceway addressed the conflict with Kraus.

WATCH: Deegan’s 10-Minute Tour on YouTube

“Me and Derek are friends now, again! We resolved our conflict from last race, so we’re cool now.” Deegan said.

Deegan even interviewed Kraus about the upcoming NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma about his expectations and he jokingly said he hoped to “stay clean.”

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West takes to the track at 4:45PM ET at Sonoma. You can watch the race on FansChoice.tv.

WATCH: Saturday’s K&N West race on FansChoice.tv

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

SONOMA, Calif. — Nothing stings more for a race car driver than “what could have been.” For Denny Hamlin at Sonoma, that moment came in 2016 racing Tony Stewart through Turn 11 on the final lap. The win that day went to Stewart, the 49th and final win of his Hall of Fame career. Hamlin finished second.

“2016 in general was tough,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com. “I had that battle with Tony, I’m glad I was able to get him his final win, I guess. That part was tough. I remember thinking after that race, I was so distraught just thinking, man! That’s the closest I have ever come to winning a road course race other than my rookie season.”

Since that race, Hamlin has won a road course race at Watkins Glen (also in the 2016 season), and posted two more top-10 finishes at Sonoma — he has three in a row at Sonoma counting his 2016 heartbreak. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has already won two races in what he calls a “revival year” after his first full-time winless season in the sport’s top series. Returning to Victory Lane multiple times in 2019 leaves the driver of the No. 11 confident.

“I mean you are always wanting to prove yourself to be better,” Hamlin said. “I think there is enough metrics out there, and there is enough data to support that I have been a top five to six driver my entire career. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I’m probably teammates with the best out there in NASCAR so you’re always going to be judged on that bar.”

Hamlin is a 33-time winner at NASCAR’s highest level with two of those wins coming in the Daytona 500. The 33 wins tie him with Fireball Roberts for 23rd on NASCAR’s all time Cup wins list and are the fourth-most among active drivers in the series. Despite the numbers, Hamlin feels he doesn’t get the credit others do.

RELATED: All of Hamlin’s Cup wins | Hamlin unveils Darlington throwback honoring DW

“Well we have been overlooked a lot through my career,” Hamlin said. “I think you could ask most people … ‘how many wins does Denny have?’ and they would have no idea. They would say ‘maybe 10-15.’

“… We’re not flashy with it, but neither was Matt Kenseth, neither was Mark Martin. Both of those guys are guys that I respect.”

Both those drivers are a tick above Hamlin on the all-time Cup wins list — Kenseth sits at 21st with 39 wins and Martin is 19th with 40 wins. The Virginia native will be in pursuit of moving closer to each with win No. 34 on Sunday — and his first at Sonoma — in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.