Jimmie Johnson took the lead on Lap 40, holding on to secure the Stage 2 win when it ended on Lap 50 for his first stage victory of the season Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.
Johnson led 11 laps during Stage 2 in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Toyota / SaveMart 350.
Brad Keselowski finished second in Stage 2 in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top five, respectively.
Stage 2 saw only three leaders, total, as Hamlin led one lap after Martin Truex Jr. yielded the lead on Lap 38.
Truex led a race-high 21 of 50 laps through the first two stages.
Martin Truex Jr. won his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series-leading 11th stage when he was in the top position after Stage 1 ended on Lap 25 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday.
Truex led eight laps in the first stage of the Toyota / Save Mart 250, taking the stage-winning position on Lap 23.
Road course specialist AJ Allmendinger finished second in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet.
Kyle Larson, the pole-sitter who led a race-high nine laps in the first stage, finished third in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
Ryan Blaney in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota rounded out the top five.
— 704Games NASCAR Heat (@704nascarheat) June 25, 2017
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the right to be on the cover after beating fellow finalist Martin Truex Jr. in Stage 2 of the All-Star Race to claim the honor.
NASCAR Heat2, a new NASCAR racing game, will be available in North America on Sept. 12, 2017 for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Windows PC.
NASCAR Heat 2 builds on the core experience of its predecessor, NASCAR Heat Evolution, with advancements from returning developer Monster Games. These improvements include enhanced online multiplayer, a deeper career mode, track updates, additional drivers and other features in line with the 2017 NASCAR-sanctioned national series formats.
In May, 704Games, NASCAR Team Properties’ exclusive console simulation-style video game licensee, announced that, in addition to the traditional Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the upcoming NASCAR Heat 2 will feature the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. These series offer new styles of gameplay, new drivers and vehicles, and six new tracks, including three road courses, two ovals and one dirt track.
Additional information on NASCAR Heat 2 will be available throughout the summer on the game’s official website: www.NASCARHeat.com. Fans can also follow NASCAR Heat 2 on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates.
The official NASCAR Heat 2 logo and NASCAR Heat 2 Toyota Cover Race Sizzle Video can be found here.
SONOMA, Calif. — A year ago, NASCAR and Microsoft unveiled the sanctioning body’s new Race Management app here at Sonoma Raceway.
A year later, upgrades now allow officials to oversee the running of races more efficiently and with more information at their fingertips than ever before.
The initial version of the app combined approximately six screens’ worth of information into a fast, efficient, usable app.
But as more data became available through advances in technology and officials began to grasp and understand how such apps could improve their workflow, the need for upgrades became evident.
It’s not an unusual situation, according to John Probst, NASCAR’s managing director of competition and innovation, who noted that such advances are what led to the development of the initial app.
Time passes, Probst said, “and (pretty soon) you’ve got 19 apps doing 19 unique things and you still have some combination of print and paper … and as you add more complexity to what we do with the pit out cameras, the PRO system, loops, freeze the field … the next thing you know you end up with this monstrosity of a system that very few people can get their head around and it’s not efficient.”
The upgraded version of the app includes a layout of each race track, as well as information such as lap counters, running positions of every car, pit stop information such as what lap a car pitted on and if the car took two or four tires and estimated time until end of the race. Officials can monitor a single car, a select group of cars or the entire field. The “track” changes colors (green vs. yellow) depending on the race conditions; pit road is displayed in red when it is closed two laps from the end of a stage.
Previous events, going back to the start of the 2016 season, are archived and accessible.
“The advantage of that is now we not only have our system updated and upgraded with the latest and greatest technology, but we also now have the ability to look back at past events and see how we performed, what our decisions were given certain circumstances as well as answer questions that come up from the garage as to why we made certain calls,” Probst said.
“On pen and paper we’d never be able to relive the action, if you will, from a particular race. I’ve used this with series directors … there have been times, especially when we have a yellow, for instance, with like four laps to go in a segment. They feel like we should have been able to get back to green. Why were we not able to get back to green?
“We are able to back up four laps from the end and watch how everything unfolded, when the yellow came out and the relative position off the cars will be correct for when it came out. Oh, the leader was already by the pace car so the pace car wasn’t able to capture the cars first time by and we lost that lap.
“In the past we might have had to pore through video (or) we might not have had it.”
While the app is currently used only by NASCAR officials, Probst said he could easily see it becoming something used by broadcast partners, other media and even fans.
For now, however, the focus is on helping officials do their jobs more efficiently.
“Everything here happens so fast and races are decided in less than a tenth of a second,” Probst said. “It happens quick on the track. As we’re up in the tower, we have to make decisions quickly as well. … if you have to go one more lap because we can’t get the lineup right, that frustrates people; that frustrates us.”
With the help of Microsoft and the Race Management app, such instances are occurring less frequently.
DEER PARK, Calif. – The directions said the gates would be open and the driveway would be steep.
The directions were accurate.
The directions did not indicate that the view would be incredible.
A pleasant surprise upon reaching the top.
The Napa Valley, home to more than 400 wineries and vineyards, spreads out below.
The sun is high in the sky and the temperature is approaching 100 degrees.
It is a good day here on the hillside overlooking the valley, a good day for growing grapes.
This is Somnium Vineyard. Danica Patrick, proprietor.
• • •
“I think the way of the valley is humble,” Patrick, dressed comfortably in cut-off jeans, sandals and blouse, says. “It’s not about Danica’s Bad Ass Red Wine. It’s not about my name; in fact, I almost think my name could take away from it if I put it on there, or used that as the only tool to sell the wine.”
It’s better, she said, if the vineyard and the wine stand alone, “and then people find out that I’m involved and it’s my vineyard and kind of backs up the story in a really interesting way as opposed to ‘Oh, Danica’s wine? It can’t be that good.’
“That’s what I would think about a celebrity making wine. ‘How involved are they really? How good could it really be?’
“I’m sure some people find out it’s me and are curious about it but I think the way of the valley is just so much more subtle, so much more humble. It’s not about selling your own wine, it’s about selling Napa Valley.”
Somnium, a 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, is the vineyard’s first release and consisted of 210 cases. The name is Latin for dream.
“It literally took me 15 minutes on my computer crossing one language to another with different words,” she says. “The word that I kept searching in different languages was dream. I thought it had a beautiful flow to it … I like that it’s Latin, just a really, really special name.”
The wine earned a score of 91 (out of 100) when rated by the industry site Wine Spectator. According to the review, Somnium is “intense and lively, with a vivid core of blackberry, wild berry and raspberry flavors. This is nicely structured, ending with a long, lingering aftertaste that keeps repeating the berry themes.”
For now, it is the lone offering from the vineyard, but Patrick hopes to have others to choose from in the future. “The experience is important to me,” she says. “I would love to broaden that, eventually have the sauvignon blanc, the cabernet … the rosé. It’s all about the experience.”
Danica Patrick’s 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Somnium (photo courtesy of Danica Racing, Inc.)
• • •
Patrick, 35, is best known as a race car driver. A one-time winner in the IndyCar Series, she is in her fifth full season competing in NASCAR’s Monster Energy Series.
This weekend she will line up sixth in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
Her business endeavors away from the track include author (her first health and fitness book is scheduled to drop in January of ’18), owner of the Warrior clothing line, as well as owner of the Somnium vineyard.
Others in NASCAR have varying degrees of involvement in the wine industry — four-time series champion Jeff Gordon’s name adorns a line of wines while team owner Richard Childress owns Childress Vineyards.
Why build one’s own vineyard when it would have been easier, and less costly, to simply purchase those wines she enjoyed?
“It’s the art of it,” Patrick says. “Which is actually what I like about racing. I don’t necessarily care about driving the car, it’s the art of it. Setting a goal and achieving it, the feel of the car, the rhythm of the lap; nailing it. It’s just like getting it all right.
“I love the art of wine; you don’t get the same bottle of wine from year to year ever. It’s a commodity there’s only so much of. There’s value in that. … You can’t make any more of 2013 or ’14 or any year.”
Patrick purchased the property in 2008-09 and the vineyard was planted in 2011-12. She didn’t buy an existing vineyard. Somnium was built from the ground up.
Danica Patrick: race car driver, author, vineyard owner(photo courtesy of Danica Racing, Inc.)
Aaron Pott, whom Patrick met here in 2006, is Somnium’s highly regarded winemaker and has worked with several wineries in the valley as well as overseas.
Tracy Smith is Somnium’s general manager. And currently its sole employee.
“I talk to Danica once a week; she calls me, she texts me,” Smith says. ” ‘What are you doing, what do you need?’ I’m very fortunate to have an owner that wants to be involved even though she is so busy. … Having that team behind me and there for me is a great support. I’m so incredibly happy to be a part of this.”
• • •
Feedback has been positive, especially in the Napa region. Somnium can be purchased locally at ACME in St. Helena, a shop that deals in small boutique wines “that you can’t just buy anywhere,” Patrick said.
TORC, a well-known Napa eatery, is offering Somnium by the glass “just for NASCAR week,” she said.
Additional information can be found on the company’s website, www.somniumwine.com.
“Everybody has really liked it and I think that’s the coolest thing — the wine has stood for itself,” Patrick said. “And that’s why my name’s not on it. I don’t feel like I need my name on it either. It’s that good.”
NEWTON, Iowa – A late caution involving then race-leader Christopher Bell was just the break Ryan Sieg needed in the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway.
Prior to the Lap 219 caution, a host of the cars in the top 10 – Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Ben Kennedy among others — had come to pit road, but Sieg was among those to stay out. That decision proved beneficial for the 30-year-old Tucker, Georgia, native, who was unable to overtake William Byron for the race win but was able to score a career-best runner-up finish Saturday night.
“It was crazy,” Sieg said with a beaming smile after the race. “I couldn’t believe I was running second on that last restart and just trying to fight for the win there. It was fun racing with Tyler (Reddick, third-place finisher) at the end. We had a little bit of a battle. It was awesome. Great pit call and great finish.”
On the final restart, Sieg was right alongside Byron, and giving it his all to get to the point. Ultimately, though, he was unable to overtake the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet piloted by the XFINITY Series rookie.
“I was going to drive it in deep and try to do all that I could do. That’s what I did,” Sieg said. “I got all that I could get. He (Byron) was just a little stronger, little faster. I did all that I could do. I was going to try and get that first win but it was crazy. To come home second, either way, a good finish.”
The field’s first shakeup came following a caution on Lap 114 — just six laps from the end of Stage 2. A round of pit stops saw the leaders come to pit road, while Brendan Gaughan stayed out (and earned a playoff point). Sieg restarted second with two laps to go in Stage 2 and came out seventh, setting the stage for his fortuitous position late in the 250-lap race.
Sieg made the inaugural XFINITY Series playoffs last year but was eliminated following the opening Round of 12. This result pushes him into the provisional playoff picture as he heads to his most successful track – Daytona – for Friday night’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Three of Sieg’s seven top 10s have come at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, including a pair of third-place finishes.
The driver indicated that typically there is a little more pressure for the RSS Racing team to perform well there. The team, which is also based out of Georgia, typically fields two cars (the No. 39 driven by Sieg and the No. 93 driven by several drivers) in the XFINITY Series.
“It won’t be as big if we don’t finish top three next week is what I was just saying on the way over here (to the media center),” Sieg said. “We want to go get another top three, top five or something; top 10 would be great.”
Sieg joined the entire top five in either matching or setting a career-best result in the XFINITY Series.
NEWTON, Iowa — Last week, a blink-of-an-eye moment weighed heavily on William Byron.
Saturday, the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet lifted his head and shouted out a pent-up yelp that formed the suitable soundtrack the rookie’s first career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory.
“I feel it all kind of comes around in racing and last week we were so close,” said Byron, who finished a mere .012 seconds behind Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin last Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. “You’ve got to have a little bit off luck to win every race that we win and I feel like we got one back for last week.”
The final restart with 10 laps to go came just 11 laps after the previous one during which Byron pitted and capped off fuel while taking tires.
Good fortune finally found Byron again, who never was seriously challenged down the stretch, but only had four or five laps of fuel left before his last pit stop helped set the stage for victory.
“We definitely got a huge break the way the caution fell right there,” Byron’s crew chief, Dave Elenz, told FS1 pit reporters during a caution period with 15 laps to go.
Byron made the most of it. He won last year at Iowa, but in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“It’s awesome just to kind of come this far,” said Byron, who received a congratulatory call from Rick Hendrick after the win.
The ninth caution of the night also benefitted some less familiar top-10 finishers, including Ryan Sieg, who ran second to notch his fourth career top-five finish in 117 series starts. Tyler Reddick took third.
“It was fun racing with Tyler at the end,” Sieg said. “We had a little bit of a battle.”
Christopher Bell — in the second leg of his first double-duty weekend — started on the pole and remained on point the entire first stage, fending off an early challenge from teammate Kyle Benjamin, and a late charge from Sam Hornish, Jr., who made his first start in nine months.
Hornish led 183 laps while winning last season at Iowa, but misfortune struck 19 laps into stage two as Bell made contact with his rear fender — an encounter that sent Hornish careening into the wall.
It also ended the veteran stock car and open-wheel racer’s first night back with Team Penske.
“He came up pretty hard when he got loose and hit me,” said Hornish, who is slated to run a limited schedule this season. “Of course, we got the brunt of it. I’m disappointed. This is one of my favorite places to come to.”
Points leader Elliott Sadler shares that sentiment — even though mostly bad luck plagued his night.
He qualified fourth, but was sent to the rear after an unapproved pre-race adjustment was made on his car. No matter. He’d ascended to fifth by the end of the first stage and ended up eighth.
Bell settled for 16th after he was collected in an incident involving Brennan Poole and Ryan Reed — the very caution that benefitted Byron and others.
Bell led 152 laps to Byron’s 78, but as both drivers know, it’s the last lap that counts.
Especially Byron, who vocally and visually celebrated this week after enduring quiet disappointment the last.
“To get second last week kind of hurt, just because we were that close,” Byron said. “But I feel like it gave us extra motivation, and I feel like last year the beginning of the summer was when I kind of hit my stride and I think we won back-to-back, so to now have a second and a first feels really good.”
SONOMA, Calif. – Carl Edwards came back to NASCAR this weekend, but the former Joe Gibbs Racing driver arrived with no plans to climb back behind the wheel.
“I haven’t talked to anyone and I haven’t even considered coming back,” Edwards told members of the media Saturday at Sonoma Raceway, site of Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
“Not right now. I think it’s pretty clear if I feel like I really want to do something then I would do it. But like I said in January, I guess I would talk to Coach (Gibbs) first and I haven’t had any conversations about that.
“I’m probably happier and more content. You … know how change is; there’s good and bad and there’s uneasiness. But, man, I’m enjoying life.”
Edwards, a finalist in the Championship Round in 2016 and the winner of 28 races in the series, stepped away from competition before the start of this season. His No. 19 Toyota fielded by JGR is now driven by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Daniel Suarez.
Edwards was at Sonoma Raceway on behalf of sponsor Stanley.
He had one career victory at Sonoma (2014) and won the pole here last year.
“Of all the tracks to come visit, this is the toughest one for me,” he said. “I truly love this place. It’s so much fun to drive here. …
“I would love to be getting in a car and go qualify today. I love this place; love is an understatement. It’s a really, really special place for me. But it’s just like anything, there are things that are good and things that are bad. But the good for me far outweighs the bad. I was just super appreciative to get the opportunity to go do the things I do now and enjoy life.”
In addition to working on his Missouri farm, Edwards said he’s tried his hand at sailing, traveled to Hawaii and remains partnered with Cessna for whom he said “they’re helping fly some people around; I’ve done some neat flights.”
While his name continues to surface as talk about driver lineups for the 2018 season begins to heat up, Edwards said he’s been out of touch and unaware of any potential movement.
“I haven’t paid any attention to any of it,” he said. “I don’t watch much TV.”
Edwards, known for his signature backflip after each of his victories, made 445 career starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. In addition to his 28 wins, he also managed 124 top-five and 220 top-10 finishes. He won 22 poles and finished second in the championship standings on two occasions.
He won the 2007 NASCAR XFINITY Series title while driving for Roush Fenway Racing.
At a Glance What: 29th annual Toyota/Save Mart 350; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race No. 16 Where: Sonoma Raceway, 1.99-mile road course in Sonoma, Calif. Green flag: 3:20 p.m. ET TV/Radio: FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 Forecast: Sunny with a high near 76; West wind 13-18 mph with gusts up to 24 mph, according to the National Weather Service National anthem: Natalie Gallo, Broadway star Grand Marshal: Cristela Alonzo, actress and comedian and voice of Cruz Ramirez from the movie “Cars 3.” Race distance: 110 laps, 218.9 miles Pit road speed: 40 mph Caution car speed: 45 mph Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends at lap 25; Stage 2 ends at lap 50; Final stage scheduled to end at lap 110.
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After a successful test Friday during a televised practice session at Sonoma Raceway, FOX Sports announced it will feature a driver helmet visor camera in a live Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race telecast for the first time in NASCAR’s modern history during Sunday’s race coverage of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 PM ET, FS1, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.)
The “FOX Sports Visor Cam,” several years in development, was tested on Danica Patrick’s helmet Friday afternoon and will remain for its race debut as the Stewart-Haas Racing driver pilots the No. 10 Code 3 Associates Ford Fusion on Sunday. To view Patrick’s visor cam footage from Friday’s practice session, CLICK HERE. The camera offers the most realistic view from the driver’s seat ever available to NASCAR fans.
“FOX Sports owes a huge ‘thank you’ to Peter Larsson and BSI, Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing and NASCAR for working with us to bring about this monumental NASCAR television experience,” said Barry Landis, FOX NASCAR race producer. “Our in-car cameras are a great platform and are very telling about the sport, but a visor camera moves with the head movement of the driver and is as close to being behind the wheel as we’ve ever seen before. Viewers will get an authentic perspective of what Danica is seeing throughout the race.”
