Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

RELATED: Race results | Standings | Detailed breakdown

NEWTON, Iowa — With six laps to go, John Hunter Nemechek made his bold, last-gasp move.

Again.

Nemechek, who charged to a Father’s Day win for his dad, Joe, last week at Gateway Motorsports Park, reprised his stirring comeback role in Friday’s pulse-pounding NASCAR Camping World Series M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Store at Iowa Speedway.

“Every one of these guys who works on this team, this is awesome,” said Nemechek, who passed Johnny Sauter on the high-side with six circuits left.

The dramatic ending to a race that ran remarkably clean for most of the first two stages was set up by an incident involving ThorSport teammates Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton with 15 laps to go.

RELATED: Crafton makes heavy contact

Nemechek and all the other contenders — except for Sauter — used the caution to head to pit road. Nemechek’s crew chief, Gere Kennon, outfitted the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet with four fresh tires.

Sound strategy?

Sure.

The reason the team won?

Not necessarily.

“He drove his butt off tonight,” Kennon said of Nemechek, who had notched one top-10 finish previously at Iowa. “He was awesome. It’s awesome for the (Nemechek) family.”

Sauter settled for second after leading for 72 laps. The series points leader said being passed by Chase Briscoe — who led seven laps before sliding to seventh — had likely already relegated him to a second-at-best finish.

“I got taken to school by Chase Briscoe,” Sauter said. “I think tonight was a second-place finish regardless.”

RELATED: Sauter ‘thanks’ Briscoe

Sauter retains a 42-point lead over Christopher Bell, who finished fifth after dominating roughly two-thirds of the race.

Nemechek notched his fifth career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win. He stood in the fourth position when he and several others emerged from that final, fateful pit stop.

“Somehow it all worked out,” Nemechek said. “The last strategy call, taking four tires instead of two, there at the end, we kind of had that strategy if a caution came out towards the end we were going to come no matter what, and no matter who came, just because tires were such a big factor.”

Noah Gragson earned the pole — his second of the season — and held off Bell for the first 16 laps. Bell rode the high-line to surge ahead one lap later. The Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates remained 1-2 the remainder of the 60-lap opening stage, which Bell won by building a 3.2-second lead by the time the stint ended.

“Drove like a dream,” Bell said at the time.

That blissful state lingered for the 22-year-old Oklahoman — until it was interrupted.

While the trucks directly behind Bell shuffled, his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota continued to shine.

But dreams of any type rarely last long and Bell saw his diminished by a gamble that didn’t pay off.

With eight laps remaining in the second stage, Bell stayed on the race track while most of the other leaders pitted and added fresh tires following a caution precipitated by Mike Senica’s spin in Turn 2.

The gamble cost him. Sauter swept high to pass Bell with five laps remaining in Stage 2, but another caution waved after an incident involving Kaz Grala, Cody Coughlin and Ben Rhodes.

Bell remained optimistic despite his rapid drop to 12th that preceded the final stage.

“It wouldn’t be fun if it was easy,” Bell said shortly before the race resumed.

Friday proved to be anything but — for everyone but the Nemecheks, who reveled in another dream-like Victory Lane celebration after spending all night getting the truck ready.

“It feels really good,” said Nemechek, who earned the pole at Iowa last season and felt a measure of redemption after surging to the win this time. “This is unbelievable for sure. … Restarting fourth there and pushing Johnny into Turn 1, I was kind of in the catbird seat.”

MORE: Nemechek gets emotional in Victory Lane

— By Rob Gray, NASCAR Wire Service

 

Posted on by

RELATED: Updated Truck Series schedule

FOX Sports announced today that the July 19 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway is moving from FS1 to FOX Business Network at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The move is being made to accommodate a CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinal double-header match expected to feature the U.S. Men’s National team on FS1 that evening. FOX Business Network and FS1 currently are in the same number of U.S. homes. FOX Sports GO, now accessible to more than 95 million users in the U.S. through their participating pay-TV providers, offers uninterrupted coverage from Eldora.

While a NASCAR race never before has been scheduled for FOX Business Network, last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from Iowa Speedway began on FOX Business Network when live coverage of the weather-impacted U.S. Open Championship ran long.  In May 2016, FOX Business Network aired NASCAR RACEDAY and pre-race ceremonies for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from Kansas Speedway when an MLB game ran long. However, FS1 took over before the green flag waved to begin the race.

With the exception of the July 29 (1 p.m. ET) race from Pocono Raceway and the Oct. 14 (1 p.m. ET) race from Talladega Superspeedway, which air live on the FOX broadcast network, the remainder of the NCWTS season airs live on FS1. The entire FOX NASCAR schedule is available live on FOX Sports GO.

A complete Eldora schedule is below (all times ET and subject to change):

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES single-truck qualifying (5-6 p.m. ET) (FS1)

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES qualifying races (7:30-9 p.m. ET) (FS2)

NCWTS SETUP (9-9:30 p.m. ET) (FOX Business Network)

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES Racing (9:30 p.m. ET) (FOX Business Network)

 Visit www.FOXSports.com/NASCAR/Schedule for updated versions of all three NASCAR national series schedules.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Junior open to TV job

SONOMA, Calif. – As he retires from full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has two Daytona 500 victories to credit.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t ever have a third.

During a question-and-answer session with reporters after opening practice at Sonoma Raceway, Earnhardt allowed he might consider an encore appearance in NASCAR’s most prestigious race — under the right circumstances. 

True, next week Earnhardt will compete for the last time at Daytona as the driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But that doesn’t mean it’s the last time he’ll compete at Daytona.

“Well, you never say never,” Earnhardt said. “I’m just retiring from full-time racing. I’m going to run some XFINITY races next year. I don’t know that I won’t ever run the Daytona 500 again, if the right deal comes along. All these tracks you have memories at, all of them, Daytona included.

“I’m going to be coming back to these tracks, and I want to continue to be part of the sport. I don’t know how it’s going to affect me really. It’s hard for me to put that into words, because I don’t know what that is going to feel like. It will be pretty weird, I think, to come back to the 500. I’m going to go to the 500 whether I’ve got any work to do or not. It will be pretty weird to be there and not race.”  

To some degree, Earnhardt can draw on the experience of his former crew chief, Steve Letarte, who left the pit box for a perch in the NBC Sports television booth.

“When he wasn’t working a race he had a hard time being there,” Earnhardt said. “He had a hard time watching it and not wanting to be a part of it. … It will be interesting I guess when we get to the 500 next year and see how that all feels emotionally.”

Earnhardt also addressed reports that he, too, might be under consideration for a broadcasting role.

“We are certainly open to discussing the possibility of seeing what options I have,” Earnhardt said. “Who wanted us, what kind of job they want me for, and we are sort of in the middle of understanding that, and that just goes along the lines of doing due diligence on everything. I’m not retiring from work. I want to keep seeking out opportunities to make a living and make money and be relevant and be a value to my partners. 

“I want to continue to be a part of the sport, and not just as an owner in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. I want to be a valuable asset to the growth of the sport and continue to help raise the bar and raise the awareness of the sport and promote the sport as much as I can. So we were just kind of looking at what opportunities there are out there for me.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Take a look at the stats from drivers who attempted a run of 10 consecutive laps in practices this weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

Practice 1: Full Practice 1 results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 18 Kyle Busch 19 28 91.852
2 41 Kurt Busch 16 25 91.609
3 5 Kasey Kahne 18 27 91.509
4 22 Joey Logano 16 25 91.430
5 48 Jimmie Johnson 20 29 91.301
6 51 Josh Bilicki 4 13 87.314

Practice 2: Full Practice 2 results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson 17 26 91.817
2 4 Kevin Harvick 3 12 91.728
3 18 Kyle Busch 1 10 91.728
4 1 Jamie McMurray 3 12 91.633
5 2 Brad Keselowski 10 19 91.555
6 95 Michael McDowell 1 10 91.175
7 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 10 90.754
8 37 Chris Buescher 1 10 90.697
9 13 Ty Dillon 1 10 90.245

 

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Full schedule for Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa – Four days ago, Sam Hornish Jr. was teaching Vacation Bible School. On Saturday, he hopes to school the NASCAR XFINITY Series field at Iowa Speedway in the American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hornish will make his first NASCAR national series start of 2017 at a track where he has two wins and is the defending race winner. He’s making the start in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, which is the car atop the owner standings in the XFINITY Series. While he has been out of the car, Hornish has been keeping himself busy with his family — his wife and three kids road tripped with him from Ohio to Iowa for this weekend’s race.

“Whenever anybody asks me what I’ve been up to especially when I’m around home, I say, ‘If I told you, you probably wouldn’t think it takes up that much time, but I never seem to have a free second,'” Hornish said Friday at Iowa.

“It’s just been a lot of fun to be able to spend time with my kids and make some memories with them,” he continued. “I know without putting the time in with them now, I won’t have that opportunity somewhere down the line because they are constantly changing, learning new things and growing up a little more each day.”

Last week, Team Penske announced that Hornish will drive for the team in both Iowa races as well as at Mid-Ohio, near Hornish’s home in Defiance, Ohio.

RELATED: Hornish to drive for Penske in several XFINITY races

“We talked all the way back in December about it,” Hornish said of returning to the Team Penske fold, an organization for which he drove in both NASCAR and IndyCar from 2004 to 2013. “Kind of went back and forth — not so much back and forth on whether we were going to do it but what races it might be and things like that. Hopefully, this is just the first of some things to come.”

The 37-year-old (who turns 38 on July 2) has been selective in his rides in recent years. Outside of a full time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2015, Hornish has run partial schedules in the XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing — and now Penske.

“I want to give myself the opportunity that if I’m in the race car, to be in stuff that can at least run in the top 10,” Hornish explained. “I wouldn’t say I was really selective this year. This was an opportunity that presented itself with a team and a bunch of people that I know, as well as the team owners all the way down to the crew chief. …

“I know that at 37, I might be a little bit past that age of getting a full-time Cup ride to compete in the playoffs.”

History says that big things could happen for Hornish at Iowa. Last June, he hopped in the seat of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for a sidelined Matt Tifft and piloted the car to Victory Lane – leading 183 of the 250 laps. On top of that, Penske has three wins here, as well.

“Iowa is a special place for me. … We always tend to run pretty good here,” Hornish said. “I like this track. I like tracks that have character and are little bit bumpier. Being a short track fits in my wheelhouse. I’m pumped up for the opportunity and for what tomorrow brings.”

One thing that Hornish has yet to experience firsthand is stage racing. Introduced this year, stage racing breaks up the race into three stages – Saturday’s race will see the first two stages last 60 laps each, with the last segment scheduled for 130 laps. Hornish said he likes the added element that stage racing brings to the table but admitted he may be in for a little learning curve.

RELATED: Stage lengths for Iowa

“In the past, how it plays out here, is you generally get some short runs, some long runs,” Hornish said. “But knowing when the stages end, when they are going to play out, that definitely changes some things. That probably allows some guys who are in the third-, fourth-range to be able to take advantage of times when there is a yellow. There’s just a lot of little intricacies to be able to figure out with that. …

“I feel like that is going to be a big thing for me to manage. The good thing is I’ve got a crew that has done very well with it so far this year, as far as how to gain those stage points but also put yourself in position to win the race. That’s what we are here for ultimately is to get the trophy at the end of it.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Practice 2 results | Weekend schedule

Kyle Larson zoomed to the top of the leaderboard in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma Raceway on Friday.

Larson, the series points leader, pushed the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet to a best lap of 94.389 mph in the 90-minute final session, which was extended five minutes because of an early lengthy red flag. The practice was marked by significant crashes for Chase Elliott and Erik Jones, who will compete in their back-up cars the rest of the weekend.

VIDEO: Elliott wreck | Jones hits tire barrier

Kyle Busch posted the second-fastest lap around the 1.99-mile road course at 94.344 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. Dale Earnhardt Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Jamie McMurray finished out the top five in final prep for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM).

The final session had an eventful start. Cole Whitt spun in Turn 2 in the opening five minutes, sliding off course when his TriStar Motorsports No. 72 Chevrolet leaked fluid from a broken oil cooler. Moments later, Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Jones skidded into the tire barrier in Turn 11, prompting his Furniture Row Racing team to unload its reserve No. 77 Toyota.

“I just got some wheel-hop, got loose and into the fence,” said Jones, set for his first Sonoma start this weekend. “I’ve been frustrated all day, and this just kind of compounds that.”

With just under 15 minutes remaining in the session, Elliott lost control of his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet in Turn 10. Elliott’s car looped and made heavy front-end contact with the retaining wall, further damaging the vehicle as it pivoted off the barrier.

“Just made a mistake. It was really my fault,” Elliott said. “I hate it for my teammates on the No. 24 team. They sure don’t deserve it. They worked hard this past week to get this car ready to come out here a long way from home. So, made a mistake and we shouldn’t be having that.”

Alon Day was the fastest of the five drivers making their first Monster Energy Series start this weekend. Day, who will become the first Israeli-born driver to compete in NASCAR’s top division, was 23rd-fastest in the BK Racing No. 23 Toyota.

Billy Johnson, subbing for the injured Aric Almirola in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford, was 29th-fastest on the board. Josh Bilicki (36th), Kevin O’Connell (37th) and Tommy Regan (38th) rounded out the final-practice efforts by series newcomers.

Coors Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled Saturday at 2:45 p.m. ET (FS1).

Truex atop the heap in first practice

Martin Truex Jr. set the fastest lap in opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday at Sonoma Raceway.

Truex turned a lap of 94.587 mph in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota on the 1.99-mile road course. The 1-hour, 55-minute session was the first on-track preparation for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM), the first of two road races for the series this year.

Denny Hamlin pushed the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to the second-fastest lap at 94.068 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the top five, respectively.

Series points leader Kyle Larson, last week’s winner in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet, registered the 14th-fastest lap at 93.118 mph.

Five drivers are set for their Monster Energy Series debuts this weekend. Billy Johnson, this week’s fill-in for Aric Almirola in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford, was the fastest of the quintet, recovering from an early spin to post the 22nd-fastest time.

Alon Day, a product of the NASCAR Next youth initiative, was 31st-fastest in the BK Racing No. 23 Toyota. He is set to become the first Israeli-born driver in a NASCAR premier series event.

Other series newcomers Josh Bilicki (36th), Kevin O’Connell (37th) and Tommy Regan (38th) completed the bottom of the speed chart.

There were no major incidents in the nearly two-hour practice, but several drivers continued after relatively harmless solo spins or off-course excursions. Among those were Chase Elliott, and Ty and Austin Dillon.

Matt Kenseth’s practice was cut short when his No. 20 Toyota suffered mechanical failure entering Turn 7 in the latter stages of opening practice. Kenseth limped back to the garage for his Joe Gibbs Racing crew to investigate, discovering what FS1 reported as a broken oil pump belt.

Three teams were docked 15 minutes of practice time because of multiple pre-race inspection failures during last weekend’s event at Michigan International Speedway: The Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet of Ty Dillon, the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford of Kurt Busch, and the Furniture Row Racing No. 77 Toyota of Erik Jones.

Posted on by Staff Report

The Associated Press reported Friday that a laptop belonging to Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus was stolen from his rental car ahead of this weekend’s NASCAR event at Sonoma Raceway.

Knaus has been atop the pit box for the No. 48 Chevrolet driven by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson since 2002. The AP reported that race notes — which are encrypted — for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM) were on the computer. Knaus told the AP other members of the team had similar-type notes.

Knaus and his wife were dining in San Francisco when the theft occurred, according to the report. After parking near the popular Fisherman’s Wharf tourist area, the couple returned from dinner to find a window smashed on their rental SUV and their briefcases stolen.

Knaus said the luggage remained untouched, but the thieves took two laptops, a significant amount of cash and his wife’s art supplies. “If anybody in the garage just randomly takes up water colors, we’ll know who it was,” Knaus told the AP.

Posted on by Staff Report

Team Penske crew chief Paul Wolfe and his wife, Aleah, welcomed their second child to the world Friday, with the team announcing the birth of a daughter, Halle Lane.

A team spokesperson said Wolfe, who oversees the Roger Penske-owned No. 2 Ford driven by Brad Keselowski, will not attend this weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway. Brian Wilson will serve as interim crew chief for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM). Wilson is the former race engineer of the No. 2 car and the current Team Penske XFINITY Series Competition Director.

Wolfe, 40, also missed a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event in March 2014 for the birth of his son, Caden Paul. Team Penske reported Friday afternoon that both mother and daughter were doing well after the delivery.

Wolfe was suspended for three races this season because of an L1-grade penalty found in post-race inspection at Phoenix Raceway in March. Wilson served as interim crew chief during those events, guiding Keselowski to a pair of runner-up finishes (Auto Club, Kansas) in Wolfe’s place.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Most memorable Sonoma moments

AJ Allmendinger’s road-racing background would seem to give him a leg up heading into this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway. His recent qualifying efforts say so; his recent race results, not as much.

Allmendinger enters the race weekend at the 1.99-mile road course with a considerable chance to prevail in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM). His only victory in NASCAR’s premier series came at the tour’s other permanent road-racing layout, Watkins Glen International, in 2014.

Allmendinger has started on the front row and led laps in each of the last three Sonoma races. Though speed has been abundant, the results haven’t shown as much. A late spin in 2014 left him 37th. He matched that finish the following season because of a mechanical issue. And Allmendinger mustered just a 14th-place performance last year after a late-race penalty on pit road.

So though he figures in as a pre-race favorite, the 35-year-old veteran is taking an introspective approach toward converting a regular-season win at Sonoma into a playoff berth.

“All you can do is just go do your best. That’s all I can do, and that’s all the team can do,” Allmendinger said last weekend in a roundtable with reporters at Michigan International Speedway. “I know on the outside world, people are like, ‘this is your best chance.’ Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. Maybe Martinsville is our best chance, I don’t know. Just do your best every weekend and if that gives you a chance to go win a race and you’re in Victory Lane, great. If you finish 20th and that’s all you have, then that is what it is.”

Sonoma presents an opportunity for a bright spot in a season of transition for Allmendinger’s JTG Daugherty Racing team. The organization expanded to two cars this season, bringing in Chris Buescher as a teammate, but Allmendinger attributes the operation’s recent woes to its slow adaptation to the current rules package and not because it has spread itself thin.

Still, since a third-place run in the season-opening Daytona 500, Allmendinger has just one other top-10 finish (a sixth at Martinsville in April). After four straight results of 30th or worse, JTG Daugherty made a change at crew chief for the No. 47 Chevrolet team in early May, moving Ernie Cope over from his competition director’s role to replace Randall Burnett.

The gains have been modest in the four races since the personnel shift, but Allmendinger still sits 26th in the series standings — one spot behind his teammate Buescher — with 15 races complete in what’s been a character-builder of a season thus far.

“The chemistry in our race team has been really good, and in the time of struggle, that’s when you really see what you’re made of as a race team,” Allmendinger said. “Do you start falling apart at the seams and everybody starts fighting with each other, or do you stick together and go out there and work harder and make things better? I feel like we’ve slowly been getting there.

“We’re by no means anywhere close to where we want to be, but over the last few weeks working together, everybody’s really pitched in and worked hard. We’re slowly learning.”

Drivers and crew chiefs alike will have to be quick learners this weekend as the stage racing format introduced this season makes its debut at a road course. The first stage is set to end at Lap 25, the second at Lap 50, with the overall finish set for Lap 110.

The early intermissions may remove some of the guesswork for teams at a track where fuel and pit-stop strategy often makes the difference between winning or losing. Allmendinger suggested it may not be as straightforward as it might appear.

“You know you’ve got to run and get through those stages and then the last stage, you’ll probably just break it up into two 30-lap runs,” Allmendinger said. “That might make it a little easier, but that said, typically a caution falls at the right or wrong time for whoever’s hoping for it or not hoping for it, so you’ve always got to play that as a factor as well. I feel like if you get that late-race caution, that breeds more cautions, so it’s always a challenge.”

Posted on by DraftKings

Rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings’ NASCAR salaries for that day. The ordering is not based on highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by value of each driver.

(fppk = average fantasy points per $1,000 of salary. The typical median fppk for a 2016 race was in the 3s. Plate tracks tend to be lower and short tracks tend to run higher due to the amount of laps.)

1. Joey Logano ($9,000) – At JGR, Logano was terrible at road courses. When he joined Penske, they told him the secret. He’s finished 11th or better in seven of eight road races with Penske. In his last five road races, he’s finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th. (3.8 fppk)

2. Kyle Busch ($10,200) – In 2015, Rowdy earned his first win at Sonoma after returning from injury. He went on to win the championship that season. Kyle Busch is good at intermediate tracks, shorts tracks and he’s good on the road. He has 14 top 10s at road courses. (5.3 fppk)

3. AJ Allmendinger ($9,500) – Misfortune has kept the best road racer in NASCAR out of Victory Lane. Allmendinger does not need a lucky break; an uneventful race would likely mean a win. In four of the last six road course races, Allmendinger has led over 20 laps in each race. (3.7 fppk)

4. Clint Bowyer ($9,400) – Sonoma is one of Bowyer’s best tracks. He has eight top-10s in 11 races at Sonoma (six top-5s). Last season in an underfunded HScott Motorsports car, Bowyer looked fast all weekend until an electrical fire ruined his race. He’ll have a fast car on Sunday. (3.7 fppk)

5. Martin Truex, Jr. ($10,300) – Is Truex human at the road courses? Not really. He’s not the same terrifying monster as he is at the ovals, but he’s fast. He won at Sonoma in his Michael Waltrip Racing days, and he finished 5th and 7th at the road courses last season. (6.9 fppk)

6. Kyle Larson ($9,300) – It may have taken longer than fans expected, but Larson is the face of NASCAR. Actually, he’s the face of North American racing. Larson has raced better than his Sonoma finishes indicate. Don’t be surprised if he reverses that trend this weekend. (6.4 fppk)

7. Kevin Harvick ($9,900) – In the last two Sonoma races, Harvick has two top-10s. In his 16 career races at the track, the California native has zero wins. Harvick is running in the K&N Pro Series West race on Saturday. He may learn something in this lower series race that propels himself to victory in the Cup race. (4.5 fppk)

8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($8,100) – Over the last couple of years, Earnhardt Jr. has improved as a road racer with finishes of 11th or better in his last five road course races. Before you lock in Junior, remember his shifting issues at Pocono. There will be a lot of shifting this weekend. (2.4 fppk)

9. Kurt Busch ($9,800) – The Busch brothers can run a road course. In the last 20 road races, Kurt has 15 top 15 finishes. He hasn’t finished outside of the top 15 at a road course in four years. He led almost half of the 2015 Sonoma race. (2.9 fppk)

10. Kasey Kahne ($8,000) – Sonoma is a Kahne track. He has a top-10 finish in a Dodge, a Ford and a Chevrolet. He’s riding a four-race top-10 streak at Sonoma, and a couple of those top-10s were when the No. 5 car was average. (3.6 fppk)

11. Denny Hamlin ($8,900) – Last year, Hamlin should have swept the road races, but he made a mistake on the very last turn at Sonoma. Before 2016, he was not good at road courses. He went 12 races without a top-10 and a lot of those finishes were in the 30s. Maybe he’s figured it out. (3.6 fppk)

12. Jimmie Johnson ($9,600) – His Sonoma stats will not blow you away; they’re good, just not Jimmie Johnson good. Track history aside, he looks like he can win any weekend this year. His three wins this year are the most in NASCAR. (4.7 fppk)

13. Brad Keselowski ($8,600) – Just because a track fits into a category doesn’t mean that it’s similar to the other tracks in that category. Sonoma and Watkins Glen are different. Keselowski’s stats will support that claim. BK has four top-five finishes at Watkins Glen, and one top-10 at Sonoma. (4.5 fppk)

14. Chase Elliott ($8,300) – This is only Chase Elliott’s second trip to Sonoma. Last year, he raced in the K&N Series race at Sonoma to gain experience. He won that race but earned a disappointing 21st place finish in the Monster Energy Series race. (4.1 fppk)

15. Ryan Newman ($7,900) – Someday Ryan Newman will retire, and I will no longer have to write about his consistency. Newman is a living, breathing mathematical proof. His stability is a fact that would hold up in court. Death, taxes and Newman around 15th, even at Sonoma. (3.6 fppk)

16. Paul Menard ($7,400) – There are a couple tracks where Menard stands outs, and Sonoma is one of those tracks. Since joining RCR, Menard has six consecutive top-20 finishes at Sonoma (average finish of 14th). (3.2 fppk)

17. Ryan Blaney ($7,300) – From all-time highs to all-time lows, Blaney followed his win at Pocono with a wreck at Michigan. He ran middle of the pack at Sonoma last year, so he’s entered the K&N Pro Series West race on Saturday for a quick tune-up. (2.9 fppk)

18. Jamie McMurray ($8,500) – The Chip Ganassi cars are as fast as they’ve ever been. McMurray’s numbers at Sonoma are similar to his sure and steady stats everywhere else. He may not be a contender, but a top-10 is within his aim. (3.7 fppk)

19. Danica Patrick ($5,800) – You would expect more from her at road courses with her IndyCar background. You would also expect a much higher price. Her average finish in eight road-course races is 21st. (2.6 fppk)

20. Matt Kenseth ($7,500) – You will see this stat several times this weekend. Matt Kenseth has one top-10 at Sonoma in his career (17 races). Why is he ranked? Sometimes a light bulb goes on. Look at Hamlin, Earnhardt, Jr. and Logano’s stats. (3.1 fppk)