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.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. – Martin Truex Jr.’s 2013 victory at Sonoma Raceway holds a special place among the 17 wins the reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion has accumulated since his full-time debut in 2006.

Coming to California that year, Truex had been winless since his maiden Cup victory at Dover in 2007, a drought that had reached 218 races.

“A long time, very long – don’t remind me,” said Truex, a featured guest at a Sonoma Raceway luncheon on Thursday in San Francisco. “It was one of those weekends where everything just felt right. We had a good practice. We had, I felt like, a really good setup for the race.”

RELATED: Behind the scenes at Truex Jr.’s first pitch

Truex finished 8.133 seconds ahead of runner-up Jeff Gordon, exceeding the 7.355-second margin of victory in his inaugural win at Dover six years earlier. Gordon and third-through-sixth-place finishers Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne all have at least one Sonoma triumph on their respective resumes.

Obviously, Truex beat the best to score his second win.

RELATED: Every winner at Sonoma

“We ran third early on in the race for a while and had some pit strategy work out a little bit in our favor,” Truex said. “We were able to get the lead and then just managed the gap and the tires and really were able to drive away on long runs.

“That was awesome. We had a couple of late-race restarts where some guys that were really good there back then – (Juan Pablo) Montoya, I think, was running second for a while … but we were able to drive away and control the race.

“I remember how awesome it felt, how amazing it was, because it had been so long, and I’d been working so hard to try to get back to Victory Lane. Our team at that time (Michael Waltrip Racing) had been so close to winning so many times. It seemed like every time, somebody would just pull the rug out from under us.”

As it turned out, that victory represented the pinnacle of Truex’s career at MWR. He wouldn’t win again until 2015 at Pocono, after he had moved to Furniture Row Racing, the team he led to the 2017 title.

Posted on by Holly Cain

If the right attitude can translate into a break-through trophy then Kyle Larson should be ready to gulp his share of fine Northern California wine straight from the winner’s oversized chalice Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

Larson has celebrated there before – dominating the 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race, leading every single lap in his first high profile NASCAR event at the scenic 11-turn road course. And he is the defending Busch Pole Award winner for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

And while the versatile racer is as well-known for his dirt-track roots and prowess as his NASCAR rise to fame and popularity, the 25-year-old concedes he sure does love a road-course challenge, too. Especially when it’s essentially the Elk Grove, Californian’s “home track” – the very place he was famously photographed wearing a Jeff Gordon driver’s suit attending the summer NASCAR race as a young boy.

RELATED: Should you put Larson in your Fantasy Live lineup? | Full Sonoma schedule

“I think it’s a lot of fun,’’ Larson said of road-course racing. “It’s fun to get to do something totally different than what I ever grew up racing. A pavement oval is totally different than what I grew up doing, but a road course is way opposite.

“I enjoy it. I feel like I get better and better at it. To me, I feel like racing a stock car on a road course is more similar to a sprint car even because you can feel the suspension working more than you can on an oval. So, there are aspects of it that my background benefits to this more so than a normal oval race. I enjoy it. This is my home track so I get to see a lot of friends and family and hangout with people that I don’t get to see very often too.

“I enjoy this weekend a lot.”

It’s the first time in two years that Larson will be winless on the season as he arrives back home in Northern California. He visited Victory Lane twice last year before he arrived in Sonoma. But Larson has been a bright spot for his Chevrolet Camaro brand and is the highest ranking Chevy driver (10th) in the points standings right now.

He has four top-10 finishes in the last five races heading to Sonoma and he has three runner-up showings on the season (at Fontana, Calif., Bristol, Tenn. and Pocono, Pa.). Overall, he has nine top-10 efforts through the opening 15 races.

“I feel like our speed has been there all year really,’’ said Larson, who drivers the No. 42 Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I feel like speed wise we have been about the same as we were last year. I think you can look at Stewart-Haas, (they are) quite a bit better than they were last year. I feel like compared to the Gibbs cars we are kind of right where we were to end the season with them last year, so we were pretty good there, so no, I don’t feel like our team is frustrated at all.

“I think we look at it as there is a lot of room to gain which is nice because I feel like we are already competitive and if we get any bit better we will be in a good spot. So, I think our team is definitely optimistic.”

Following his dramatic win in the K&N Pro Series West four years ago, Larson has been especially eager to triumph at the Cup level on Sonoma’s 1.90-mile course. He has never started the race from a position lower than fifth. And the pole position and nine laps led last year were a career highlight for him here. His four finishes, however, have been more disappointing. He’s had essentially twin bills – two times he’s been 15th and he bookended those with a finish of 28th in his first race and a 25th-place showing last summer.

“Always qualify well here,’’ Larson said, with a grin. “I think we have the track record maybe from ’14 or ’15, so that is pretty cool. The pole here last year was neat.

“I would like to race well here soon. I don’t know what it is about the race, but I always seem to struggle a little bit. Hopefully, this year is a little bit different and can do a good job and get our team up front.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kurt Busch led the way in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Busch got around the 1.99-mile road course at a clip of 94.061 miles per hour in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Busch has one victory at Sonoma, which came in 2011.

RELATED: Final practice results | Best 10-lap averages | Full Sonoma weekend schedule

Denny Hamlin was second-fastest in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, also eclipsing the 94-mph mark with a speed of 94.012 mph.

Martin Truex Jr. finished third with a lap of 93.718 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, followed by Jamie McMurray in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (93.549 mph). Kevin Harvick provided a Stewart-Haas bookend to the top five with a lap of 93.441 mph in the No. 4 Ford.

Truex Jr. received significant damage to the front of his machine with roughly 10 minutes remaining, caving in the bumper of the No. 78 after running into the back of Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet.

William Byron suffered an axle failure early in the final practice session, taking the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet back to the garage while smoke billowed from the back of his Camaro.

Kyle Larson was also hit with mechanical trouble after light smoke puffed from the back of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet while taking the esses portion of the 1.99-mile road course. The team confirmed the source of the smoke occurred after a transmission change between practice session. The crew changed a handful of hoses and o-rings, getting Larson back on track for the remainder of the session.

The next on-track action for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be Busch Pole Award qualifying at 2:45 p.m. ET on FS1.

Practice 1

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers shook down their race cars for the first time on a road course this season in preparation for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Fresh off his win at Michigan, Clint Bowyer led the way in the 75-minute session, rocketing to the top of the board early and staying there with a fast lap at 93.590 miles per hour around the 1.99-mile California road course in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Analyzing each turn at Sonoma

Ryan Blaney owned the second-fastest lap at a speed of 93.546 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, followed by teammate Joey Logano in third with a speed of 93.172 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Jamie McMurray in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (93.049 mph) and Daniel Suarez (92.746 mph) in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota rounded out the top five.

Kasey Kahne lost control of his machine just 20 minutes into the session, spinning out the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet in Turn 2.

Paul Menard also received significant damage to the right-front fender of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, making impact with a tire stack in Turn 11. “I changed my line in Turn 11. I just got too close to the damn tire,” Menard said over the radio.

Four teams served practice holds at the end of this session for failing pre-race inspection at Michigan International Speedway. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team of Kyle Busch, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team of Kyle Larson and No. 95 team of Kahne served 15-minute holds for failing pre-race inspection twice. The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team of David Ragan served a 30-minute penalty for failing three times.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR announced this offseason that it will standardize at-track team rosters across all three national series in 2018, providing a structure for the number of personnel working on each vehicle during the course of a race weekend.

Official team rosters for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) have been released. Click the print icon above, or the link below.

ROSTERS: Sonoma race

RELATED: Overview of 2018 rules updates

Posted on by Alex Weaver

Ever been stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire? Can you change it yourself?

How about in less than 14 seconds? Now add a vehicle that has been going 200 mph, three more tires and the pressure of playoff points on the line.

MORE: NBC Sports debuts new ‘Peacock Pit Box’

Sound hard?

Pit crew members on any race team often face this type of enormous pressure. They can make or break a driver’s chance of winning a race off of pit road, and often may be the deciding factor of who ultimately takes the checkered flag.

And I had the opportunity to discover their challenges first-hand.

The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew is one that has dominated this year. They have fueled, changed and adjusted Kyle Busch’s Toyota Camry to four wins so far this season. Those victories helped “Rowdy” claim a career-long accomplishment of winning at every track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit.

I had the pleasure of spending the day with these guys and seeing exactly what goes into simply “changing a tire.” The weight of the air gun is enough to make your arms sore for hours after. Then you have to aim it at five lug nuts on the center of a wheel in a rhythm that would make a musician happy.

These athletes make it look too easy.

Between practice and extensive workouts every day during the week, they travel with the team before performing on the biggest stage every Sunday. Most of them have an athletic backgrounds. Many have even suited up for Division I football teams around the country.

I gave it my best effort, as you can see in the video above. My skills need some work, and I doubt Kyle Busch will demand me on his team anytime soon. I did, however, get rewarded with unlimited M&M’s

Posted on by Staff Report

Trackside Live is bringing fans California vibes to Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 24 at 11:30 a.m. ET.

WATCH: Trackside Live | MORE: Full schedule for Sonoma | Buy your tickets

Don’t miss your chance to meet your favorite drivers including Clint Bowyer and NASCAR Next’s Hailie Deegan. Watch the video above and get excited for the first road-course race of the season! It’s going to be a good one.

Enjoy!

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will take on the first of three road courses on the circuit as they head to Sonoma Raceway, nestled in the Wine Country of California and located just outside of San Francisco.

Each of the track’s 12 turns provides a unique challenge for drivers, especially with the return of ‘The Carousel.’ Ahead of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), take a lap around the 2.52-mile California road course as we break down every twist and turn.

RELATED: Wildest moments in Sonoma’s Turn 11 | Full weekend schedule

2018 Sept29 Sonoma Carousel Main Photo

 

Turn 1: Once drivers take the green flag, they are faced with a sweeping uphill left-hander, beginning the climb up to the highest part of the road course.

Turn 2: Drivers are then approached with a right-hand turn up to a quick short-chute where the elevation plateaus before climbing up another hill to Turns 3 and 3a.

Turns 3 and 3a: Once they are through the short-chute, drivers head downhill a tad for a quick left-hand corner, then back up a hill for quick right-hand turn — the highest point of the road course. After taking those corners, a huge downhill run awaits them.

Turn 4: Shoot, what chute? ‘The Carousel’ makes its return, a three-turn section of the course that was last run in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 1997. As we ride with Mark Martin below, you can see the first turn into the section is a heavy, downhill right hander.

Turn 5: Drivers will build a little speed through this quick right-hand corner. Once they’re through the apex, they will make the climb up the hill, which makes for a blind entry into Turns 6 and 6a.

Turns 6 and 6a: A blind entry into this pair of corners isn’t the only reason why it’s so treacherous. A rapid downward undulation into the sweeping left hander challenges the drivers to slow the car down enough to make the corner, but carry enough momentum to set themselves up well for the passing zone in Turn 7 — or get passed!

Turn 7: This is a great place for drivers to make a move. They can use momentum off Turn 6a to set up the pass down the straightaway, then complete it through this right-hand corner.

 

Turns 8 and 8a: These turns, or the “esses” are a series of quick right- and left-hand corners. Drivers build up a ton of speed through these turns to set them up for Turn 9.

Turn 9: This sweeping left-hand turn gives drivers the chance to hold it wide open and carry a huge amount of speed. Turns 9 and 10 are where drivers reach the highest speed on the road course.

Turn 10: After going through Turn 9, drivers are met with this quick right-hand corner, launching them onto the short-chute, which leads them into Turn 11.

Turn 11: Just like the entrance of Turn 4a, this is another heavy braking zone. Carrying a great amount of speed, drivers have to slow the cars down in order to take the right-hand hairpin turn. Calamity often happens here, where drivers lose control because of heavy braking, or run into the back of other cars trying to make the turn.

Turn 12: This very tight and narrow left-hander is the final corner drivers take before reaching the start/finish line.

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

Fifty years after Staff Sergeant Don Jenkins pulled wounded comrades to safety after several failed rescue attempts, he will be honored the weekend of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

As part of the NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola program, Daytona is honoring three United States Army veterans who were awarded the Medal of Honor. President Richard Nixon presented the medal to Jenkins on April 20, 1970 for his distinctive service in the Vietnam War.

MORE: Honoring Gary Littrell | Honoring Leroy Petry

Don Jenkins, Medal of Honor recipient

Born in Quality, Kentucky, Jenkins is now 70. He was just 20 years old and a private in the U.S. Army when he fought through heavy fire in Kien Phong province while suffering shrapnel wounds himself to reach a unit that had been pinned down.

“You have buddies calling your name — ‘Don? You alive? Come get me,’ ” Jenkins recalled in an interview with “Stars and Stripes.”

After the war, Jenkins returned to Morgantown, Kentucky, and was a coal miner. He recalled that he didn’t want any attention for the Medal of Honor at the time he received it, but things changed after 9/11. He now is more active in representing Vietnam veterans and Medal of Honor recipients.

Of the 3,501 Medal of Honor recipients, 72 are living.

“Recognizing Medal of Honor recipients is one of the most important traditions we have at Daytona International Speedway,” said speedway President Chip Wile. “This recognition is rooted in our facility’s history, while also being embedded in the values all Americans hold dear. It is a true privilege to have these American heroes join us for our race weekend.”

The three veterans will take part in a luncheon, drivers meetings and pre-race ceremonies for the Coke Zero Sugar 400. | Coke Zero 400 tickets

Read Staff Sergeant Don Jenkins’ official Medal of Honor citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Jenkins (then Pfc.), Company A, distinguished himself while serving as a machine gunner on a reconnaissance mission. When his company came under heavy crossfire from an enemy complex, S/Sgt. Jenkins unhesitatingly maneuvered forward to a perilously exposed position and began placing suppressive fire on the enemy. When his own machine gun jammed, he immediately obtained a rifle and continued to fire into the enemy bunkers until his machine gun was made operative by his assistant. He exposed himself to extremely heavy fire when he repeatedly both ran and crawled across open terrain to obtain resupplies of ammunition until he had exhausted all that was available for his machine gun. Displaying tremendous presence of mind, he then armed himself with two antitank weapons and, by himself, maneuvered through the hostile fusillade to within 20 meters of an enemy bunker to destroy that position. After moving back to the friendly defensive perimeter long enough to secure yet another weapon, a grenade launcher, S/Sgt. Jenkins moved forward to a position providing no protection and resumed placing accurate fire on the enemy until his ammunition was again exhausted. During this time he was seriously wounded by shrapnel. Undaunted and displaying great courage, he moved forward 100 meters to aid a friendly element that was pinned down only a few meters from the enemy. This he did with complete disregard for his own wound and despite having been advised that several previous rescue attempts had failed at the cost of the life of one and wounding of others. Ignoring the continuing intense fire and his painful wounds, and hindered by darkness, he made three trips to the beleaguered unit, each time pulling a wounded comrade back to safety. S/Sgt. Jenkins’ extraordinary valor, dedication, and indomitable spirit inspired his fellow soldiers to repulse the determined enemy attack and ultimately to defeat the larger force. S/Sgt. Jenkins’ risk of his life reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

MORE: NASCAR Salutes military spouses