Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – AJ Allmendinger had just won the first stage of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 when his race – and his engine – fell apart.

Allmendinger started fifth and quickly worked his way into second place during the first stage, only to surrender the runner-up spot to Kevin Harvick on Lap 15 of the 25-lap stage. But when Martin Truex Jr. and Harvick pitted early on Lap 22, Allmendinger inherited the top spot and held it through the green/checkered flag, collecting the first stage win of his career.

Allmendinger brought the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet to pit road during the caution between stages and restarted 17th on Lap 30. Four circuits later, however, his race came to an end when Allmendinger missed a shift and blew the engine in his Chevy, ruining one of his best chances to win a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

RELATED: Allmendinger: ‘I let everybody down here’

When asked by FS1’s Jamie Little what led to the missed shift, Allmendinger’s response was blunt.

“Me,” he said. “I haven’t missed a shift on a road course in 10 years. Just me. I was trying to be so patient, so smooth with it; it was unexpected. It’s on me. I let everybody down here. The car was good; I don’t know if it was race-winning. It’s all on me. I don’t know what else to say. I just let everybody down.”

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin won Stage 2 on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway as similar to Stage 1, pit strategy played a huge part in determining the finishing order. Race leader Kevin Harvick pitted with three laps to go in the stage, and Martin Truex Jr., in the second-place car at the time, also came to pit road.

That opened the door for Hamlin, who has a road-course win at Watkins Glen, to claim his second stage victory of the season. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson finished the stage in second and third place, respectively. Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

AJ Allmendinger, who won Stage 1, exited the race after missing a gear shift on Lap 32. Allmendinger’s No. 47 Chevrolet billowed smoke, then came to rest on the track.

Just prior to the caution for Allmendinger’s mishap, Jamie McMurray experienced mechanical problems in the No. 1 Chevrolet and had to take the Chip Ganassi Racing vehicle to the garage.

Allmendinger came on the radio to say the mechanical problem was due to his faulty shifting. McMurray, meanwhile, told FS1 that his team expected an oil pump had failed.

Finish Driver Team Race points
1 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 10
2 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9
3 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 8
4 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 7
5 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 6
6 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 4
8 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports 3
9 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing 2
10 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing 1

Stage 1

AJ Allmendinger won Stage 1 on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway after the leader, Martin Truex Jr., along with other contending cars, came to pit road with three laps remaining in the opening 25-lap stanza.

No. 78 crew chief Cole Pearn appeared willing to sacrifice stage points if it meant putting the Furniture Row Racing team in a better position to win the race. Kevin Harvick, who was in second place at the time Truex pitted, also headed to pit road, along with Clint Bowyer, who had moved up into the top five.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

For Allmendnger, the strategy was to stay out and gain some much-needed stage points. It was the first stage win of the season for the JTG Daugherty No. 47 team. Brad Keselowski came in second, followed by the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott.

Pole-sitter Kyle Larson, who led the first two laps in the stage before Truex took over, rounded out the top five.

Finish Driver Team Race points
1  AJ Allmendinger  JTG Daugherty Racing 10
2  Brad Keselowski  Team Penske 9
3  Jimmie Johnson  Hendrick Motorsports 8
4  Chase Elliott  Hendrick Motorsports 7
5  Kyle Larson  Chip Ganassi Racing 6
6  Ryan Newman  Richard Childress Racing 5
7  Aric Almirola  Stewart-Haas Racing 4
8  Daniel Suarez  Joe Gibbs Racing 3
9  Chris Buescher  JTG Daugherty Racing 2
10  Kasey Kahne  Leavine Family Racing 1
Posted on by Staff Report

Sometimes, there are pairings that just seem right.

Wine and cheese. Milk and cookies. MC Hammer and NASCAR.

It’s not something you would have thought to put together at first glance — like a banana and mayo sandwich, Dale Jr.? — but when MC Hammer showed up at Sonoma Raceway before Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, the drivers and fans were agog.

Bubba Wallace — born three years after the release of MC Hammer’s hit “U Can’t Touch This” — was eager to share some words with the native of nearby Oakland, California.

Fans lined up to watch Hammer (is he Hammer on second reference?) give interviews.

And others just stared in awe when it was Hammer Time.

Even honorary starter Jonny Moseley thought MC Hammer was 2 Legit 2 Quit.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkaoEe2jjtJ/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=espq6gk9i1lr

And MC Hammer, himself, was thrilled to be a part of the NASCAR scene.

And Austin Dillon seemed happy to meet the rapper.

Posted on by Staff Report

Ever wonder what goes on in a driver meeting? We’re here to help.

This year, we’ll publish the actual rules video your favorite Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers will watch before climbing into their stock cars. Above is the video for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Sonoma Raceway.

Enjoy!

Posted on by Chris Knight

MADISON, Ill. – In a chaotic final 10 laps of Saturday night’s fifth-annual Villa Lighting delivers the Eaton 200 presented by CK Power, Justin Haley withstood a green-white-checkered finish to score his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory in his 37th career start for GMS Racing.

Haley held off a hard-charging Todd Gilliland to secure the organization’s fifth Truck Series win of the season but more importantly stamp his No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet into the Playoffs.

RELATED: Series standings | Full race results 

“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid,” said a jubilant Haley in Victory Lane. “Every time you start doubting yourself you get in a situation like this. I’m about to cry man, that was amazing.

“I raced my heart out and that’s all I’ve worked for my whole life. Thank you to Fraternal Order of Eagles, Todd Braun, everyone, my mom, my family, it’s been an incredible experience and you never know when you get to race again.”

Gilliland scored a season-high runner-up finish after clearing Johnny Sauter on the Lap 158 restart.

“I’m pretty happy with where I finished,” Gilliland said. “I guess I need to communicate better what I think I need for the race. The track just changes so much in these trucks compared to the K&N cars. It’s just about keep bringing fast trucks to the race track every week and our finishing positions keep moving up.

“It’s just about being there at the end and any time you can be inside the top five with a green-white-checkered, you’re in a pretty decent spot.”

Haley swiped the lead from Noah Gragson with seven laps remaining as Gragson, Haley and Gilliland all battled for the top spot. The caution waved on the restart lap for the stalled truck of Ben Rhodes which set the tone for the Lap 158 restart.

Gragson, who led 53 straight laps prior to the restart, had to pit for damage with Gilliland, his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate. He recovered to finish 10th after leading a race-high 63 laps.

Before the late-race chaos, the opening two stages were relatively calm.

ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger won his first pole of the season and led every lap in Stage 1.

Christian Eckes in his second Truck Series start for Kyle Busch Motorsports inherited the race lead for the start of Stage 2, as his team pitted during a Lap 34 caution, putting the Greenville, New York, native in control of the field for the Lap 42 restart.

Despite his inexperience, Eckes powered away from the field in his No. 46 Mobil 1 Toyota, dominating Stage 2 by leading every lap.

Gragson grabbed the lead off pit road at Lap 71 after a two-tire stop jumped him three positions for the Stage 3 restart. The Las Vegas native controlled the field until an incident at Lap 110 when second-place runner Nemechek suffered a puncture in his oil tank, leaking fluid and soaking the 1.25-mile racetrack with oil, causing Justin Fontaine, running ninth, to lose control of his No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet entering Turn 1. Tate Fogelman, in his Truck Series debut, also found himself a victim of the circumstances and t-boned Fontaine.

Both drivers climbed from their trucks under their own power and were later evaluated and released from the infield care center. The field endured a 12 minute and 36 seconds red flag period for track cleanup.

Eckes’ impressive night ended on Lap 77 after contact with Stewart Friesen sent him into the Turn 2 outside wall. With significant damage to his No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, the 17-year-old was unable to return to the race and was credited with a 28th-place finish.

RELATED: Sauter sends Friesen spinning | Eckes’ night ends after wreck | Hard hit for Sargeant

“I feel fine. It’s just unfortunate,” said Eckes. “These guys worked really hard today and brought me a really fast truck. It was definitely good enough to win. We won a stage. It’s just unfortunate.

“My Mobil 1 and KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) guys worked really hard and brought me a fantastic truck. It’s unfortunate for it to end like that but I have two more shots with this at Martinsville (Speedway) and Phoenix (ISM Raceway) at the end of the year and I am looking forward to coming back for that.”

The Truck Series concludes a four-week consecutive stretch of competition at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, June 29 with the running of the Overton’s 225.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Kyle Larson won the Busch Pole Qualifying Award and will start in the top position in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Sonoma Raceway. After two practice sessions and qualifying, we’ve dissected the numbers and 10-lap averages to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you go to make roster decisions for the 16th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2018. Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2.

RJ Kraft’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following practices and the lineup being set:
1: AJ Allmendinger
2: Jimmie Johnson
3: Jamie McMurray
4: Chase Elliott
5: Clint Bowyer
Garage: Kurt Busch

PLAY NOW: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | How the new Fantasy Live works
MORE: Fantasy analysis for Sonoma | Driver stats | Full lineup | 10-lap averages

Analysis: My main plan going into this weekend is to minimize my uses of the big names as best as possibility so I am leaving the big three of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. on the sideline. Despite his spot on the pole, I am leaving Larson on the sideline as well — even though I have the uses to cover a play there. The thing with the California native is that qualifying at the road course has never been an issue, it’s been the end results with an average finish of 20.2. The other catch for me with Larson is I look at the summer stretch of Chicago, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Pocono and Michigan as great spots to get him in.

The only change from my original six-driver group is I am taking out Paul Menard in favor of Chase Elliott. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet qualified a surprising third and finished in the top 10 here last year. I would gladly take that again. The reason for Elliott over Larson is I feel comfortable with the No. 42 team for a number of races on the remaining schedule and I’m not sure how much I’d use Elliott moving forward. I gave some strong consideration to William Byron as well as I haven’t used him at all, but I just felt a little more comfortable with Elliott. I have only used Allmendinger, Johnson and McMurray a total of one time this season.

Bowyer and Kurt Busch did not qualify well — 19th and 23rd respectively but I trust in their Sonoma histories as they each have a win, seven top fives and nine top 10s here. They both led the two practice sessions as well. If all goes according to plan, I will only have one of them active and I’ll leave the other in the garage. Denny Hamlin falls in the same boat as he has had speed this weekend and has the most points in the past two Sonoma races. However, he qualified 21st and I’m a little lighter on uses with him so he stays off my roster. For my race winner pick, looking at someone out of the Bowyer-Hamlin-Harvick trio.


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SONOMA, Calif. — Sometime between the festivities of his post-win celebration at Michigan and the trek out west to the vineyard-dotted hills of Wine Country, Clint Bowyer started daydreaming about Sonoma Raceway.

He thought about Turn 11 — “boy, are they going to dive-bomb there” — and Turn 7, where “a lot of action” happens.

At some point, maybe his mind wandered to winning at Sonoma Raceway — and what it would be like to put the No. 14 in Victory Lane for the third time this season following Sunday’s road-course event.

RACE DAY: Lineup | Keys to win

“This is one of my favorite tracks. I’ve won here before; I just have a lot of confidence here,” Bowyer told NASCAR.com after leading Friday’s opening practice at the Northern California track. “Statistically, it is one of my best tracks, so when you come here … you’re ready to go, your expectations are high and it was no different when we came here this year. We unloaded, the car’s fast, right up to the top of the board again and it’s been kind of business as usual so far from where we left off at Michigan.”

The Bowyer of 2018 is much different than the Bowyer NASCAR fans saw last season in his first year at Stewart-Haas Racing. The fun-loving, comical personality hasn’t wavered; but there’s a confidence that he and his team exude heading to the track every week.

Winning — and breaking a 190-race winless streak in the process — will do that to you.

“You can’t have confidence, you can’t have any of that, until you have success,” Bowyer said. “And everybody can say, ‘you’ve just got to change your attitude’ … it’s hard to be positive, damn it, when you don’t have that success to match it. All of a sudden, we put everything we learned (together) …

“Any time you start winning races, starting up front, collecting stage points — doing the things that we couldn’t do on a consistent basis last year — you start to exude that confidence and have that, not only from myself, but then you see it with our race team, everything else,” he said later. “Their swagger, their demeanor, their communication through a bad time. You struggle and it’s no longer (a) freak-out and panic and ruin the weekend. It’s ‘no big deal, we’ll get through it, we’re all in this.’ That’s the level of commitment and confidence that you have to have across the board of a race team and that’s what I see.”

FANTASY: Bowyer: Start or no start?

Bowyer also took the offseason to build up an important relationship; the one with crew chief Mike Bugarewicz. The pair took a hunting trip together and simply spent time with each other away from the track.

“That’s one thing that I regret not doing when I came to Stewart-Haas Racing is really getting to know Mike, and I think that was the thing starting right off at Daytona on the right foot,” Bowyer said. “We knew each other, we had fun and finally enjoyed each other away from the race track and once we got going to the race track, it helped so much more.

“And it’s not the easy times; when you’re having a good weekend, that’s easy. It’s when you start struggling. There’s been a couple times when we stubbed our toe in practices and things like that and just weren’t the best, but our communication and the vibe around the race team is so, so much better than it was last year and that’s been the difference.”

LINEUP: By paint scheme, with rosters

Bowyer and the No. 14 team will attempt to notch their second straight win of the season on Sunday at Sonoma, where he’s won once in 2012 and has earned nine top-10 finishes in 12 starts. With his recent surge, his name has floated around as a potential championship contender to join the “Big Three” of Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Bowyer’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick.

Will a win at Sonoma solidify that? Maybe. Bowyer said there’s still some work to do.

“Are we running as good as my teammate Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch on a consistent basis? No, I know that,” he said. “But what I see in our race team is progression almost every week; we keep knocking on the door more and more and more.

“If we continue to get a few more wins and get that points base established within the (Playoffs), I really feel like when we go back to the (tracks) for the second time, that we can be even better yet — and compete with those guys.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. — Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, has been sharpening his road-course racing skills under the tutelage of Max Papis.

Byron also worked with road-course expert Ron Fellows earlier in the week at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada.

The work paid off on Saturday, when Byron qualified eighth for his first-road course race in the Monster Energy Series. It is Byron’s best starting spot of the season.

RELATED: Full Sonoma starting lineup

“Working with Ron a little bit and then working with Max Papis has helped me a ton in my career,” Byron said. “We work every week on a karting track trying to figure things out, so it’s been fun to get better.”

“Yesterday, I really started getting my rhythm of what I needed to do better and kind of put that all together today to try to get where we need to be. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.

“It was cool.”

Byron also got additional track time in qualifying and racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West at Sonoma on Saturday.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – Take the aerodynamic factor away and the new Chevrolets are just fine, as Kyle Larson proved Saturday in his pole-winning run at Sonoma Raceway.

Larson negotiated the 1.99-mile road course in 75.732 seconds (94.597 mph) – the fastest lap of the day – to earn the top starting spot in Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Busch Pole Award was the California native’s second of the season, his second at Sonoma and the sixth of his career.

RELATED: Full lineup | Weekend schedule | Steve Letarte’s fantasy picks

Driving the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Camaro ZL1, Larson edged reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. (94.227 mph) by .09 seconds. Truex will take the green flag from the front row for the fifth time in 16 races this season, having won three poles and having started first at Martinsville after a qualifying rainout.

Road course ace AJ Allmendinger was fastest in the first of two rounds at 94.477 mph (75.828 seconds), but Larson made a huge gain in the money round.

“It was a really good second lap there,” Larson acknowledged. “I figured I had run in the 75-second bracket. I just didn’t know how quickly, so when I saw the (75.732) pop up on my dash, I knew (it) would be a good lap, but I didn’t know if it was the pole or not.

“Once I knew I was ahead of the 78 (Truex), I figured the 47 (Allmendinger) was the only one that could beat me. I’m not sure where he messed up his lap, but he wasn’t able to get the pole (Allmendinger qualified fifth).

“It was cool to do it. We picked up a lot of time from the first round into the second round. The car had really good balance in the first round, so I don’t know what adjustments (the team made), if anything, but I was just able to attack the braking zones a little bit more and rush the throttle a little bit more on the exits, and it paid off.”

Chase Elliott qualified third, followed by Jamie McMurray, Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, as Chevrolet drivers claimed six of the top eight starting positions. Truex had the fastest Toyota, and sixth-place qualifier Kevin Harvick the quickest Ford.

“It was a good lap,” Harvick said. “My Ford is a little better than me when it comes to this day. I was a little too conservative in a couple corners and gave up a little time, but it was a solid two rounds for us.

“The hardest thing to do is make it out of Round 1. After you do that, we went faster than we did in practice in Round 1 and faster again in Round 2. That’s always a good thing for me.”

MORE: Kurt Busch, Bowyer top practices | Best 10-lap averages 

Hendrick Motorsports, which supplies the engines for Ganassi, placed three drivers in the top eight, with Elliott, Jimmie Johnson (seventh) and Sunoco rookie William Byron (eighth) all earning spots in the first four rows.

Johnson’s starting spot is his best of the season so far.

“The car since we unloaded has been very competitive and good,” said the seven-time series champion. “I got two clean laps. I can’t say that I really gave away any time out there, which is tough to do on a tight little road course like this. A top 10 starting spot – we will take it.”

Series leader Kyle Busch qualified ninth.

“Our qualifying run was okay,” Busch said. “For some reason, we’ve kind of been lacking here this weekend. We haven’t been able to find that fast lap. We keep trying to work on the car and on the driver and have certainly made improvements to both, just not enough of them.

“Qualified ninth, that’s OK. Certainly, we’d like to be more in the top five spots, but it’s kind of what we got, so it’s what we’ll have for tomorrow.”