In-Season Challenge: Update after Round 1 at Sonoma

Posted on June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Zack Albert

The first of five weeks of head-to-head battles has trimmed the In-Season Challenge field in half after an eventful Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, and zero perfect brackets remain in the pool of fan predictions. The 16 drivers with hopes of claiming the $1 million prize head this weekend to a Sunday showdown at Chicagoland Speedway (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), which returns to the NASCAR Cup Series circuit for the first time in seven years.

Here’s where things stand after Challenge Round 1 at Sonoma:

Sonoma race winner: Shane van Gisbergen secured a weekend sweep of the Cup Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events on the 1.99-mile road course, fending off a stout challenge from Chase Briscoe to prevail in Sunday’s main event. SVG led 74 of the 110 laps in Trackhouse Racing’s No. 97 Chevrolet, landing his second win of the Cup Series season and his second straight at Sonoma. He advanced to the In-Season Challenge’s second round over No. 19 seed Ryan Preece, who placed a respectable eighth.

Who advances to Round 2

Advancing with the 14th-seeded van Gisbergen to the next round are: (2) Denny Hamlin, (3) Ryan Blaney, (4) Chase Elliott, (5) Ty Gibbs, (6) Kyle Larson, (7) Chris Buescher, (9) Carson Hocevar, (10) Christopher Bell, (11) William Byron, (12) Chase Briscoe, (15) Erik Jones, (16) Austin Cindric, (20) Michael McDowell, (25) Todd Gilliland, and (32) Alex Bowman.

The top upset from first-round action was Bowman, who rolled into the Round of 16 with a 10th-place effort after top-seeded Tyler Reddick stumbled with mechanical trouble and finished last. The outcome marked the second consecutive year that the lowest seed has advanced, and he’ll face off with Austin Cindric in the second round. Bowman is also the most recent race winner at Chicagoland, where he netted his first Cup Series victory in 2019.

Matchup of the week

(No. 6) Kyle Larson vs. (No. 11) William Byron: This intrasquad matchup of Hendrick Motorsports teammates has some serious star power. A pair of the best on intermediate tracks, Larson and Byron will square off in Round 2 at Chicagoland — both coming off relatively decisive first-round wins at Sonoma Raceway. Larson stomped Riley Herbst in Round 1, finishing fourth while the 23XI Racing driver placed 30th. Meanwhile, Byron finished 12th at the road course compared to 21st for opponent Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Larson has a momentum advantage, riding a streak of five top fives in the last six races. But as the 2026 campaign inches toward The Chase, this head-to-head battle could serve as an important turning point for the Hendrick organization with both drivers looking for their first wins of the season.

Who’s up

Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Almost the only thing Gibbs didn’t do Sunday at Sonoma was win, assembling a sizable 54-point day — second only to SVG’s 63 — with a sweep of the stages from the pole position and a third-place result. That equaled a convincing first-round victory over No. 28 seed Austin Dillon, who finished 27th. Gibbs’ path to a second straight In-Season Challenge title will have to go through teammate Chase Briscoe, who makes for an enticing Round 2 matchup after a stellar runner-up finish Sunday.

Who’s down

Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Gilliland survived a bumpy Sonoma ride, including a pair of run-ins with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst in Stage 2. He finished where he started in 29th place, but it was just enough to advance over 31st-finishing Daniel Suárez, a former Sonoma winner whose race went awry after a first-stage flat. Gilliland is among a handful of drivers heading into unknown territory for their first Cup Series start at Chicagoland, and he’ll face off with No. 9 seed Carson Hocevar in a second-round test.

Contributing: Nate Solomon

Posted on June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Adam Fenwick

A mid-week show awaits the stars and cars of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as Seekonk Speedway welcomes back the series for the running of the Firecracker 150 presented by the Bethesda Leadership Group (Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET on FloRacing and the NASCAR Channel).

The Modified Tour’s second Seekonk race of the season doubles as the opening salvo of the Whelen Midsummer Championship. The three-race miniseries, featuring events at Seekonk, Claremont Motorsports Park and Monadnock Speedway, offers a bonus program for competing teams totaling $25,000.

Wednesday’s race marks the Tour’s 15th visit to Seekonk and the second of the season. Jon McKennedy captured the most recent Tour event held at the facility in May. He’s one of 11 drivers to earn Tour wins at the track, a list that also includes Matt Hirschman, Doug Coby, Justin Bonsignore, Reggie Ruggiero and Jerry Marquis, among others.

Tickets to Wednesday’s Firecracker 150 presented by the Bethesda Leadership Group are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the seventh race of the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Jon McKennedy won the most recent NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Seekonk Speedway in May. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

Firecracker 150 presented by the Bethesda Leadership Group at Seekonk Speedway

A well-known fact: Race-car drivers love racing for extra money.

Starting Wednesday at Seekonk Speedway, the stars of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will get to do just that.

Thanks to JDV Productions and Whelen Engineering, an extra $25,000 will be available to teams as part of the inaugural Whelen Midsummer Championship. The three-race miniseries, which features Wednesday’s event at Seekonk as well as the races at Claremont Motorsports Park (July 10) and Monadnock Speedway (July 25), is the spiritual successor to JDV’s Whelen Short Track Cup.

The champion of the Whelen Midsummer Championship will be determined by the points each driver scores during the three-race miniseries. The champion will pocket $5,000 from the $25,000 purse. Should any driver win all three races as part of the Whelen Midsummer Challenge, he’ll earn an extra $10,000.

Based on recent performance, the favorite for the Whelen Midsummer Challenge is undoubtably Jon McKennedy. The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion has won two of the last three races on the schedule, including the most recent Seekonk race in May.

Another likely contender is championship leader Stephen Kopcik, who led a race-high 81 laps in May at Seekonk before fading to second at the finish. He holds an eight-point edge in the series standings on another likely contender for Wednesday, defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Austin Beers. Though he has yet to win this year, Beers has an average finish of sixth, better than any driver so far this season.

Doug Coby, a six-time Modified Tour champion, is scheduled to make his third start of the season Wednesday in the No. 28 for Jett Motorsports. He finished ninth in the most recent Seekonk event, his first top-10 with Jett Motorsports. Matt Hirschman, the only three-time series winner at Seekonk, is also entered and should be considered among the contenders Wednesday.

Other notable entrants include Patrick Emerling, Trevor Catalano, Tyler Rypkema, Tommy Catalano, Eric Goodale, Chase Dowling and Paulie Hartwig III, among others. The full entry list for Wednesday’s race is available here.

Jon McKennedy has won two of the last three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races entering Wednesday’s Firecracker 150 at Seekonk Speedway. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

Race	Firecracker 150 presented by the Bethesda Leadership Group
Date	Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Track	Seekonk Speedway
Layout	0.333-mile asphalt oval
Location	Seekonk, Massachusetts
Start time	8 p.m. ET
Laps	150
Posted Awards	$106,132
Tickets	Here
How to Watch	FloRacing / The NASCAR Channel

SCHEDULE: Wednesday, July 1: Practice from 3 – 3:30 p.m. ET … Final practice from 3:40 to 4:10 p.m. ET … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 5:30 p.m. ET … Start of the Firecracker 150 presented by the Bethesda Leadership Group at 8 p.m. ET (150 Laps / 49.95 Miles)

QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Firecracker 150 presented by the Bethesda Leadership Group is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by NASCAR Officials, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position for this event.

RE-DRAW PROCEDURE: The fastest qualifier will spin the wheel to determine the number of drivers that will re-draw for their starting positions: 4, 6, 8 or 10 positions will re-draw. Once the fastest qualifier spins the wheel, NASCAR will have the various buckets ready to immediately start the re-draw procedure. Driver will re-draw in their qualifying order after qualifying has been completed (1 through 10, or however many are applicable). The pole position and/or any bonus point(s), if applicable, will be awarded to the fastest qualifier and will be the pole of record. If, due to adverse conditions, qualifying is canceled, the field will be set in accordance with the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rule Book. The re-draw procedure will still take place regardless of how the field is set.

Posted on June 28, 2026June 30, 2026 by Dustin Albino

SONOMA, Calif. — For the first time all season, there is a new leader in the clubhouse in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Placing 26th in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway gave Denny Hamlin the regular-season championship lead by the slimmest of margins — one point. He tallied 11 points while Tyler Reddick, who has been in command of the series lead since winning the Daytona 500 four-and-a-half months ago, drove around with power steering issues throughout the race, finishing last in the 36-car field.

RELATED: Race results | Cup Series standings

“We don’t really know what the issue was,” Billy Scott, crew chief of the No. 45 Toyota told NASCAR.com on pit road. “It sounds like we were able to help it some, but not fully. I think we missed an opportunity to have a solid top-10 day, had decent speed, got the fastest lap and did what we could. Certainly, disappointed to not get many points on the day.”

While sitting idly on pit road at the end of the opening stage for six excruciating laps, the No. 45 bunch went under the hood to assess the issue. Through a pair of caution flags, Reddick was able to get within four laps of the lead, three laps behind any other competitor.

“It was just a very odd issue,” Reddick told TNT Sports following the race. “Everything seemed fine when we left the pit stall that first green-flag cycle, we just had some issues with the steering and the power steering going in and out. I didn’t know what was going on, if we had a wheel issue or what was going on. It was really hard to make any kind of lap time with it.

“It’s so hard to say, in hindsight, if we made the right decision to work on it. I definitely don’t think I would have been within seconds of the pace. Either way, we had a difficult road ahead.”

Hindsight also would have worked in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team’s favor Sunday. Hamlin was a contender throughout the road-course race, spending much of the opening two stages inside the top six. The plan, if he remained in contention, was to sacrifice stage points by flipping both stages in exchange for track position over the final stint, which covered roughly half the race.

But Hamlin was tagged from behind by Carson Hocevar in a restart on Lap 64 entering Turn 7. The No. 11 car looped around in the dirt, returning to the race at the rear of the field. With a damaged splitter hindering performance, Hamlin gained nine positions for the remainder of the event to clock in 26th.

“Extremely frustrated. We put a lot of time into it,” Hamlin said of the finish. “If you get wiped out in one corner, it changes the complete result.”

Chris Gayle, crew chief for the No. 11, knew the possible repercussions of not collecting stage points. If anything went haywire during the final stage, the chances of having a minuscule points day were on the table. Hamlin kept his composure, however, and made something out of nothing.

“It’s frustrating, but what do you do about it other than the drivers have to handle that stuff themselves and the guys behind should be more cognizant and be aware,” Gayle told NASCAR.com. “I realize some of that is the guys behind seeing what’s coming from behind, and it’s either me spin somebody, or I get [spun], potentially. It’s kind of chaotic with what happens here. From the crew guy side, what can you do about it?

“I’m more proud of the fact that Denny stayed in it at the end, we picked up [nine] spots, he got by [Ty Dillon] so we weren’t eliminated from (the In-Season Challenge). We picked up enough points after that to get the points lead. That’s the only thing you can do and focus on.”

Hocevar took blame for the incident, though knew he got hammered from behind. He was afraid he was going to get accused of fixing the race as he was praising Dillon throughout the week, believing he would advance to the second round of the In-Season Challenge.

“I just know I got hit,” Hocevar said. “I was going to be left, and I was looking in my mirror and they were all lining up, and I said, ‘If I don’t get right, I’m probably going to get spun.’ I remember getting hit and full-rocked right.”

Yet Hamlin seized the championship lead for the first time in any regular season since a runner-up finish in June 2024 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. He has climbed from a 129-point deficit to Reddick in the last six races, which included a three-race winning streak for the first time in his career.

And when it came to road courses, a distinct advantage for Reddick, it was Hamlin who came out with the upper hand through the inaugural event at Naval Base Coronado and Sonoma, gaining 20 points on the No. 45 car in the last two races.

“They’ve had misfortune and today we had misfortunate,” Hamlin said. “We just got to race it out. I don’t know where the points are, but I don’t control anything. As we see, things can happen.”

Gayle took a measured approach, recognizing the No. 11 team had its back against the wall over the past two weeks. The team responded by overcoming one of its biggest weaknesses in climbing to the top of the mountain.

“If you would have written that down going into this stretch, we would have been happy with that regardless of the finishes or what happens. It’s kind of sour today because we thought we had a lot better car. Maybe we could have finished eighth or so last week, but this week, we felt like we could have finished in the top six, getting caught up in someone else’s stuff and got punted from behind in that chaos.”

Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images

The No. 45 team knows that with eight races remaining in the regular season, plenty of racing is still to be completed before any driver gets a 25-point advantage leading into The Chase.

“I think the hope and plan coming into this was to gain ground,” Reddick told reporters on Saturday. “I guess it can be won or lost on any given race when all the races are in the books, and you’re able to go back and look at it, but there’s still a lot of racing.

“We’re right in the mix, and it’s very much still there for either one of us. Obviously, anyone else back there, if we hit a slump, could close the ground if they win some races. I think there’s a couple of tracks coming up where I think Denny could have the upper hand from the experience side of things, but there’s a lot of racing left.”

Scott quipped: “The reality is there is a reset coming in eight weeks, so this is good practice for that. We’re going to keep focusing on what we can do, and we think that’s going out to win more races before we get to The Chase.”

Sunday was a double-whammy for Reddick, however. Alex Bowman took the checkered flag in 10th, his first top-10 finish since rounding out the podium at Texas Motor Speedway nearly two months ago. For the second consecutive year, the No. 1 seed was bounced from the In-Season Challenge in the opening week.

Bowman played the role of this year’s UMBC or Fairleigh Dickinson, stunning the tournament’s top overall seed.

“To be honest with you, after the last two months we’ve had, it feels good to have a solid day at the race track and finish halfway decent,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “Obviously, it’s been pretty horrendous the last two months. It feels good to have a good day; it’s been a while since we’ve had an enjoyable day at the race track.

“The bracket was what it was. I didn’t have any idea that we were going to beat Reddick, and I caught up to him pretty early in the race and thought we might have a shot, the car was pretty good.”

With Dillon having a power steering issue of his own in the closing laps, Hamlin scooted by with 11 laps remaining, assuring the top two seeds didn’t go down in Week 1 in consecutive years.

Posted on June 28, 2026June 28, 2026 by Cameron Richardson

SONOMA, Calif. — Chase Briscoe nearly defeated road-course king Shane van Gisbergen in the final laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway, but ultimately settled for runner-up.

With a long 57-lap stint to the finish, it forced drivers to make their final pit stops of the afternoon under green-flag conditions. Briscoe, running second at the time, exited the 1.99-mile racing surface at Lap 81 for four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel. Van Gisbergen followed one lap later.

Despite the time gained in the closing laps and a last-ditch push into Turn 11, Briscoe saw the Kiwi take the checkered flag out the front windshield for the second year in a row at the California road course.

“Last year, I felt like I never really knew what he had,” Briscoe said. “Today, like 15 or so to go, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s letting me catch him and he’ll just drive away’, and then I realized I was like, man, I’m actually better here, like I could see him struggling. I could tell the last 10 laps, it was everything he had. I just, I made a mistake with like three or four to go getting into Turn 1.

“Just have to be absolutely perfect to beat him, and I wasn’t perfect. I thought I definitely had the superior car. I just didn’t do as good of a job as he did driving.”

As the laps ticked down, Briscoe was encouraged by his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team to conserve rear tires while van Gisbergen struggled on pace. With four laps to go, Briscoe shaved the deficit down to under a second before missing Turn 1, causing him to lose an additional half second.

Briscoe credited his braking during the final run that gave him a fighting chance to pull off the upset on van Gisbergen.

“I just kept pushing harder and harder and harder,” Briscoe said. “I didn’t feel like I was really that bad under braking, but then at the end I just kept pushing it, like I said, extremely hard. I knew that was the one thing, if I could just try to make him get pressured in, and I honestly kind of baited him into it there on the white flag into (Turn) 7. He kind of missed, and I just unfortunately missed with him.”

But his second consecutive Sonoma runner-up shouldn’t come as a surprise. His crew chief, James Small, has a knack for success in Wine Country.

Combined with Briscoe and the retired Martin Truex Jr., the No. 19 team leader has scored four top-three results in his last six Sonoma events, including a win with Truex in 2023.

While not revealing his secret to success in Northern California, Small credited Briscoe for his growing ability to navigate the course and compete for wins.

MORE: Cup Series standings

“It’s like training a dog, and it’s just trying to show him that it can be done,” Small told NASCAR.com. “Just repetition and we’ve got the perfect playbook by seeing Shane, who’s honestly one of the best drivers in the world when it comes to managing his stuff. I think if we could have had track position on him there at the end … we had a better long-run car. Credit to Chase for really not going too hard there and managing that whole run.

“It’s frustrating to finish second again here and would have been nice to be back in the winner’s circle.”

Entering the middle of the summer stretch, Briscoe has established some consistency following a rough start to 2026.

Once outside The Chase picture after Watkins Glen, the Indiana native has climbed to 11th across the last six races and has built a 79-point cushion to the cutline.

Briscoe matched his season-best result Sunday (second at EchoPark Speedway in February), but with a goose egg still in the win column for 2026, there will certainly be a bitter taste leaving Wine Country despite nearly conquering the king of the road.

“I think that Shane is one of the greatest road-course drivers in the world,” Briscoe said. “I felt like I was playing one-on-one against Michael Jordan. I didn’t have the lead, but I had every opportunity to beat him, and I blew it.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Posted on June 28, 2026June 28, 2026 by Staff Report

Tyler Reddick, who entered Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway with an eight-point lead in the standings, fell multiple laps down after Stage 1 with a mechanical issue.

After qualifying 11th on Saturday, Reddick faded throughout the 25-lap opening stint at the 1.99-mile road course, complaining to his No. 45 23XI Racing team about power steering issues. He finished Stage 1 30th before coming down pit road for repairs, losing six laps to the field. He gained two laps back at the Stage 2 end, with a caution for debris soon after.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Sonoma

“It’s disappointing. We don’t really know what the issue was,” No. 45 crew chief Billy Scott told NASCAR.com. “It sounds like we were able to help it some, but not fully. I think we missed an opportunity to have a solid top-10 day, had decent speed and got the fastest lap and did what we could. Certainly disappointed to not get many points on the day.”

Speaking to TNT Sports after the race, Reddick explained that he was unsure whether to let the issue ride or spend laps on pit road diagnosing it.

“It’s so hard to say, in hindsight, if we made the right decision or not to work on it,” Reddick said. “Either way, we had a difficult road ahead, so I don’t know. I do feel good that it was nice we did decide to pit there, work on it, so we were able to get the Xfinity Fastest Lap out of the day, at least.”

Reddick, a California native, won five of the first nine races this season, including the season-opening Daytona 500. He led the series by as many as 129 points after Watkins Glen International in May. But after finishing 36th at Sonoma, he surrendered the points lead to Denny Hamlin for the first time this season.

“The reality is there is a reset coming in eight weeks or whatever it is, so this is good practice for that,” Scott said. “We’re going to keep focusing on what we can do, and we think that’s going out to win more races before we get to The Chase.”

MORE: Recap Shane van Gisbergen’s Sonoma win

Despite gaining the points lead, Hamlin had his own issues. Entering Sonoma with wins in three of the last four races, he went spinning on a restart and plummeted through the field after showing early top 10 speed. He unofficially leads the series by one marker heading to Chicagoland Speedway next Sunday (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“We got pretty fortunate today,” Reddick said. “[Hamlin] was running really, really good. Something happened, don’t really know what it was, but something coming out of the dirt right in front of me there. So all things considered, for the issues we had, we were very fortunate to really only lose nine points on the day to Denny, finishing dead last.”

Posted on June 28, 2026June 28, 2026 by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. — Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway followed form, but not without the stiffest fight of Shane van Gisbergen’s brief NASCAR Cup Series career.

On the other hand, the opening race of the Cup Series’ In-Season Challenge defied the handicappers — at least as far as top-seeded Tyler Reddick was concerned.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Sonoma

For the second straight year, van Gisbergen had to hold off a charging Chase Briscoe over the final laps to win at the 1.99-mile, 11-turn road course.

Briscoe closed within one foot of SVG’s bumper in the hairpin (Turn 11) on the final circuit but couldn’t get close enough to the New Zealander’s No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to make a move for the win.

“Yeah, what a day,” said van Gisbergen, who finished 0.357 seconds ahead of Briscoe. “We were really bad yesterday (sixth in qualifying), and these guys (the No. 97 crew) did an amazing job turning this car into a winner. The 19 (Briscoe) was coming. He was really, really good, and I ran out at the end.”

Van Gisbergen led three times for 74 for the 110 laps in securing his eighth Cup Series victory in his 68th start, tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart for second-most all-time road-course wins, one behind Jeff Gordon’s nine. He completed a weekend sweep, claiming NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series laurels on Saturday.

SHOP: Winner gear

The victory was SVG’s second of the season and second straight at Sonoma, and it helped to assuage the frustration of last Sunday’s race at Naval Base Coronado, where he was eliminated in a multicar wreck 32 laps into the contest.

“I was back to normal by the weekend, but, yeah, I was certainly pissed at the start of the week,” van Gisbergen said. “This really makes up for it, sharing it with these guys. They went through it at the start of the week. Pretty special to win.”

But the win was anything but easy, given that the handling of the winning car deteriorated noticeably over the final 27 laps.

“We had these (lapped cars) come out (of the pits) in front, and they were wobbling all over the track and putting dust, and I just kept struggling. Chase was just really, really good. Yeah, a couple more laps (and) we would have had some problems.”

Briscoe might have been able to overtake SVG had he not slipped in Turn 1 with four laps left. The mistake cost him a second and made his task all the more difficult.

“Yeah, just frustrated with myself,” Briscoe said. “I felt like I definitely had the better car. I didn’t do as good of a job as he did driving. I just made a mistake with, like, three or four to go getting into (Turn) 1.

“I was having to push so hard, and that was where I would make up my ground. It was just such a razor’s edge, and I about crashed. Gave up a (full) second, and then I was able to obviously run him back down at the end. If I don’t make that mistake, I’m probably ahead of him, I feel like, at the end.”

Running the first two stages to the end, versus the short-pitting strategy of both SVG and Briscoe, pole winner Ty Gibbs finished third after winning Stage 1 and Stage 2. The defending winner of the $1 million winner-take-all In-Season Challenge eliminated 27th-place finisher Austin Dillon from this year’s tournament.

Reddick wasn’t as fortunate. The 23XI Racing driver lost six laps on pit road with a power steering issue and finished last (36th), as his first-round opponent, 32nd-seeded Alex Bowman, advanced with a 10th-place finish.

Kyle Larson ran a consistent, solid race and finished fourth, followed by Christopher Bell, who came home fifth despite managing a broken wrist.

Ryan Blaney, Connor Zilisch, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell and Bowman completed the top 10, with Zilisch scoring his first top-10 finish in the Cup Series. Despite his eighth-place run, Preece was eliminated from the In-Season Challenge by SVG.

Despite finishing 26th after spinning off the bumper of Carson Hocevar’s Chevrolet on Lap 64, Denny Hamlin took the series lead by one point over Reddick. Second-seeded Hamlin also avoided elimination from the In-Season Challenge when his first-round opponent, Ty Dillon, developed power steering issues late in the race and came home 35th.

Dillon eliminated Hamlin in last year’s first round and advanced to the final round against Gibbs.

In other In-Season Challenge matchups of note, 12th-seeded Briscoe eliminated 21st-seeded AJ Allmendinger; 25th seed Todd Gilliland upset No. 8 seed Daniel Suárez; 20th-seeded McDowell defeated No. 13 Bubba Wallace; and Austin Cindric topped Brad Keselowski in a battle of 16th and 17th seeds.

The race featured three cautions for eight laps, only one for an on-track incident. There were eight lead changes among six drivers with only SVG and Gibbs (31 laps led) out front for more than two circuits.

The Cup Series’ next race is the eero 400, scheduled next Sunday (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Chicagoland Speedway, which will host the circuit for the first time since 2019.

Note: Post-race inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage at Sonoma without issue, confirming van Gisbergen as the winner.

Ty Gibbs seals Sonoma stage sweep

Ty Gibbs made a clean sweep of the opening two stages as Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race reached the halfway mark at Sonoma Raceway.

Gibbs’ No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 30 of the first 55 laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

MORE: Stage 2 results | Gibbs nets Stage 2 win

Christopher Bell again made it 1-2 for Joe Gibbs Racing, securing second at the stage’s end, with AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric and Ross Chastain completing the top five.

Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen took the lead for the first time Sunday after an exchange of pit stops during the Stage 1 intermission. His No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet was in front for 25 laps before he dove to pit road to execute a stage-flip strategy for the second time in Sunday’s race.

Zane Smith, van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10.

A mechanical issue on Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota potentially has major implications atop the Cup Series standings and for the opening round of the In-Season Challenge tournament. Reddick’s crew worked under the hood for multiple laps after he reported problems with the car’s steering.

MORE: Reddick finds trouble at Sonoma

The full distance is scheduled for 110 laps (218.9 miles) on the 1.99-mile road course.

Sunday’s race is the opening event in the 32-driver In-Season Challenge tournament, and the field will also reach the halfway point of the 36-race Cup Series season after Sunday’s showdown.

Ty Gibbs leads all the way in Stage 1

Polesitter Ty Gibbs landed a wire-to-wire Stage 1 win in the early going of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.

Gibbs led all of the stage’s 25 laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. He held the top spot from the drop of the green flag and kept it when other contenders headed to pit road in a stage-flip strategy.

MORE: Stage 1 results | Watch Gibbs capture Stage 1 honors

Christopher Bell, a teammate of Gibbs’ at Joe Gibbs Racing, placed second at the end of the opening stage in the No. 20 Toyota. Spire Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar were third and fourth, respectively, with RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece completing the top five.

Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen started sixth and made it all the way to second place in the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet by late in the stage. He opted to head to pit road with three laps left in the stage, but still scored stage points in seventh place at the green-checkered flag.

Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Riley Herbst were eighth through 10th and the final Stage 1 point earners.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on June 28, 2026June 28, 2026 by Staff Report

NASCAR Cup Series veteran AJ Allmendinger made his 500th career start when he took the green flag in Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway (TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Piloting the No. 16 Chevrolet, the 44-year-old has found a home at Kaulig Racing since the start of the decade and has held full-time roles in both the Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with the organization. He returned to full-time Cup action in 2025 and is under contract with the team through at least 2029.

“I guess the way my mentality is still of I’m always out there trying to prove it to myself that now you still belong here, and it’s what drives me insane sometimes,” Allmendinger said. “It’s also what pushes me to want to be at my best every second of the day. I think there’s two ways, and it’s just the way I am mentally about myself — thinking 500 starts — it’s like immediately my mind goes, ‘well, damn, I wish I had won more.’ Like, I wish in these 500 starts there’d be kind of more, more ups. But if you’d asked 2007 AJ, as I was missing most of the races on a brand new race team, like, hey, by the way, 19 years later, you’re going to be at start 500 at Sonoma, I would’ve been like, ‘there’s not a chance in hell.’ ”

Allmendinger has competed in the Cup Series since 2007, running for now-defunct teams Red Bull Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports. He also ran part-time schedules for Team Penske and Phoenix Racing in 2012-13. Allmendinger then moved to JTG Daugherty Racing (now Hyak Motorsports) at the end of 2013 and became its full-time driver at the start of 2014.

In 2014, Allmendinger broke through for his first career Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen International after 213 starts.

Allmendinger went on to win two more Cup Series races after joining Kaulig, winning the first Cup event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2021 and two years later at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Those victories came after not making a Cup start in 2019 and 2020.

Allmendinger entered Sunday’s Cup race 20th in points, 21 markers below the cutoff for The Chase. He is seeking his first postseason berth since 2014. The Los Gatos, California, native has also qualified for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason on three occasions, reaching the championship round in both 2021 and 2024.

Saturday at Sonoma, Allmendinger took time to thank owner Matt Kaulig and Kaulig CEO Chris Rice for the success he has garnered deep into his career.

“This is like my home, and sometimes it can be a dysfunctional home on all ends. I’m a little crazy, you hear it on the radio, but we love each other, and we will fight to the death for each other,” Allmendinger said. “I’ve gotten to kiss the bricks at Indianapolis, got to win at Charlotte, got to win on ovals, got one of the coolest finishes ever in Bristol. Like, I owe the happiness of my career, whether it’s ever good enough in my mind, I wish it was. We’ve done some pretty damn cool things. Hopefully, we got more to go, but I owe my happiness of my career when I’m done to Matt and Chris.”

Allmendinger battled handling gremlins during Sunday’s race at Sonoma and placed 16th in the final running order.

Contributing: Cameron Richardson | NASCAR.com

Posted on June 28, 2026June 28, 2026 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series head to Sonoma Raceway for a road-course weekend in Northern California. Bookmark this page for everything you need throughout Sonoma race weekend, including qualifying orders, practice speeds, race results and more.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | TV listings

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT Sports. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Seven sets for the weekend (five new sets for the race, one set for qualifying that transfers to the race, and one set for practice). Teams will also have six wet-weather sets available.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Race day: Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Five sets for the weekend (three new sets for the race, one set for qualifying that transfers to the race, and one set for practice). Teams will also have four wet-weather sets available.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

Posted on June 28, 2026 by Brandon White

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Versatility has long defined Kaden Honeycutt’s career.

No matter the car, whether at the top levels of NASCAR or a local short track, Honeycutt usually finds a way to mix it up with the leaders in the closing stages. That quality solidified Honeycutt as one of the best young racing prospects in the country and earned him the trust of numerous Late Model Stock operations.

Among them is Kenneth Packer, who fields a team named after his late stepdad and stock car legend Tom Usry. During his time driving the Tom Usry Racing No. 17, Honeycutt found a rhythm around South Boston Speedway, visiting Victory Lane in his two most recent ventures to the complex.

On Saturday evening, Honeycutt prevailed in South Boston’s most cherished event: the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200. Being so dominant with a blue-collar program like Tom Usry Racing is what made the moment so special.

“I think it means more to my race team than me,” Honeycutt said. “We don’t really have any full-time guys that come and have the same routine. I’m proud of our adaptation and the way we’ve been able to show up every weekend and be consistent. That’s one of the things we’re really good at right now.”

Third times the charm! 🙌

In his third attempt, @KadenWHoneycutt wins the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at @SoBoSpeedway57! pic.twitter.com/xJwAaMlzdj

— NASCAR Regional (@NASCARRegional) June 27, 2026

The chemistry Honeycutt developed with Tom Usry Racing since joining the team at the end of 2023 has made them a perennial contender every time they show up. Winning has proven arduous against talented Late Model Stock fields, but Honeycutt always knew he could find Victory Lane carrying Tom Usry’s colors.

That faith was one significant factor behind the most herculean milestone of Honeycutt’s career back in May.

After earning his first ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins at Watkins Glen International that Friday, Honeycutt made the short flight to Ace Speedway for a CARS Tour doubleheader Saturday evening. The result was a clean sweep of the weekend, with the last victory coming in Usry’s No. 17.

Being so diverse behind the wheel dates to Honeycutt’s formative years on dirt tracks in his home state of Texas. Honeycutt always knew that acquiring knowledge about several different disciplines would be beneficial; he just never imagined it would lead to four wins in one weekend or short-track crown jewels.

“I’ve been so fortunate enough to do this for a while,” Honeycutt said “I never really thought I’d have a career in doing this. Growing up with my dad in our shop doing dirt racing, I never thought we’d really be up to this point. I really need to call and talk to him.”

(Photo: Krista Jasso/NASCAR)

Now fully embedded in Toyota Racing Development as a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver, Honeycutt cherishes every opportunity to go back to his Late Model Stock roots. Those chances will decrease as he progresses up the ladder with fewer off weekends, so Honeycutt wants to win as much as he can in the discipline right now.

Everything lined up perfectly for Honeycutt to claim another Late Model Stock victory in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200. He set the quickest time in two of the practice sessions Saturday and took control of the feature from polesitter Landen Lewis on the 13^th lap after starting third.

Honeycutt’s versatile nature contributed to his dominance Saturday. By utilizing his dirt-track experience, Honeycutt consistently found grip around South Boston’s dynamic surface, something that paid dividends when it came time to negotiate slower traffic.

“[South Boston] is so much like a dirt track,” Honeycutt said. “[The groove] moved from the apron to the top, and you were able to move up and really search around for some grip. Lappers were definitely not easy, and they were hard to pass for sure. I had to use a little bit of bodywork, and I didn’t want to do that, but it was a matter of winning the race or not.

“Being able to run the pit wall and go up to the top is what’s so cool about this place.”

Despite enjoying a near-perfect outing at South Boston, the lapped traffic slowed Honeycutt down just enough to bring 2023 Virginia Late Model Triple Crown winner Trevor Ward into the mix. Ward gradually chipped away at Honeycutt’s advantage over a caution-free final 100 laps before finally getting within a half-second deficit.

Unfortunately for Ward, the checkered flag waved before he could make a significant run for the lead. The Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 still proved auspicious towards Ward’s chances of earning a second Virginia Triple Crown, though he wished more time was on his side for him to claim South Boston’s crown jewel for himself.

“We got a little bit of a bad start on the race by qualifying 13^th,” Ward said. “We had some work to do for sure, but this was a testament of what these guys are capable of doing at Trevor Ward Motorsports. I never would have thought it would have gone 100 laps green at the end. I was really looking forward to that caution, but unfortunately we came up one spot short.”

“I really believe we just needed 10 more laps to be honest.”

If a caution did come out in the closing stages, Honeycutt knew he would have to exert every bit of energy left to fend off Ward, who is a South Boston track regular. Honeycutt also felt he was at a disadvantage with how much Ward had conserved his equipment earlier in the run, which put more emphasis on him dealing with lapped cars methodically but efficiently.

No yellow flag ever waved, allowing Honeycutt to keep Ward in his rearview mirror and finish off another South Boston victory.

“I was trying to stay major focused, wrap my line as much as possible and find the grip I needed to finish off those 10 [laps],” Honeycutt said. “I think I just burned it up a little too much that last 100 [laps]. I think Ward did a better job keeping [the tires] cool, and I went after it a little too hard and didn’t lift early enough. Got a little discipline to work on for myself.”

Kaden Honeycutt and Tom Usry Racing have found a cadence at South Boston Speedway, with the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 being their third major win there since the fall of 2025. (Photo: Krista Jasso/NASCAR)

The Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 is now another milestone on an impressive stock car resumé for Honeycutt. He guided MMI Racing to an owner’s championship in the ARCA Menards Series West back in 2023 and claimed the prestigious Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway the following year.

Honeycutt is not ruling out chasing the second leg of the Virginia Triple Crown in the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway, but he is going to deliberate with Packer before deciding. Since there is a Truck Series race on the Friday of the Hampton Heat, Honeycutt would only be at the track on Saturday, something he considers a difficult-but-manageable setback.

While Honeycutt does not explicitly consider him and Tom Usry Racing underdogs, he does believe the team embodies that mindset. They were tasked with going up against powerhouse teams and South Boston regulars in the track’s crown jewel event, defeating them all in convincing fashion.

Doing so much with minimal resources is what Honeycutt enjoys the most about driving for Tom Usry Racing. No minute is wasted in the shop getting the Usry-inspired No. 17 ready, and that effort continues to be rewarded on race day.

Honeycutt never got the chance to meet Usry before he passed in 2009 but has heard plenty of stories from Packer about his adventures in motorsports. Based on that knowledge, Honeycutt knows Usry would be proud of everything the team named after him has accomplished.

“I think Tom [Usry] would definitely be doing a little better than I am,” Honeycutt said. “He was unbelievable back in the day. We’re small, [Kenneth Packer] and Josh [Yeoman] work full-time on it. Kenneth loves this stuff, and I think that’s why I’m so happy. [He and Yeoman] get what they need to be successful.

“For us as a race team, [the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200] ranks number one.”

Honeycutt is only 23 with a long career ahead, yet his impact on racing is already indelible. Tallying another victory Saturday amidst a hectic-but-successful 2026 served to reinforce Honeycutt’s strongest trait: He can win in any car at any level.

Posted on June 28, 2026June 28, 2026 by Dustin Albino

SONOMA, Calif. — Achieving success at Sonoma Raceway has always carried extra weight for Michael McDowell. Few NASCAR Cup Series drivers have been as comfortable on the twisting Napa Valley road course, and since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022, no one has been more consistent.

While McDowell is billed from Glendale, Arizona, nearly 800 miles southeast of Sonoma, McDowell spent a handful of his formative years as a race car driver in Northern California. In his early teens, he and his older brother, Billy, relocated to Northern California to chase their racing dreams.

After a successful stint in go-karts, McDowell remembers the transition to full-sized formula cars. Not much longer, he dabbled with sports cars. The team he competed for — World Speed Motorsports — was based outside of Turns 10 and 11 at the 1.99-mile road course.

“I spent a lot of track days here, a lot of time in the summer working with the team on the cars,” McDowell told NASCAR.com, remembering the glory days at Sonoma. “A lot of those early days were like Cup, [O’Reilly] and Truck early days. When you were a driver, you were also at the shop. You worked on the cars; you knew the cars well and were around the program working on the cars. It wasn’t like where you just show up and drive.”

McDowell reflects on that time as an important part of his career. He recalled going to the track early in the week to set up different awnings that spread over the haulers, as there were no garage stalls for him to work from. He also helped local competitors by serving as a driver coach before returning to Arizona and coaching at the Bondurant Racing School.

All that effort was spent hoping to have a career in IndyCar before a NASCAR opportunity fell into his lap, making the transition in the mid-2000s.

“I just didn’t grow up in this environment,” McDowell said. “It’s like playing baseball and then deciding you were going to play football; it’s not really something you would do. It feels like they are that different.

“Honestly, it was like starting over. It was a whole different culture, different atmosphere, shop, race track — it was a very different style of racing. It was quite the transition.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Fast forward two decades, and McDowell is among the contenders to frequently challenge at the front of the field at Sonoma. In the last four races here, he’s tallied a 4.0 average finish to lead the league. He trails only seven-time road course victor Chase Elliott, who enters Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with five straight top 10s.

To have success in what was once his own backyard hits home for McDowell, who considers Sonoma to be among his best and favorite venues on the circuit.

“This Next Gen car has been good for us, but it feels like I’ve covered every spot in the top five but a win and been so close,” McDowell said. “A couple of those were good enough to win. The first year in the Next Gen car here, I led coming to the last pit stop, and we had a right-front wheel nut fall off, and I came out fourth or fifth in that cycle. I think that was one that we potentially had the speed to contend and win.

“The others, we were close but weren’t there. It’s been a good track. But like everything, it evolves, and you have to evolve with it. Everybody is getting so much better at road-course racing now.”

The No. 71 Spire Motorsports team has a dilemma on its hands come the green flag, though. McDowell slotted in fourth with a strong qualifying effort on Saturday, a full row ahead of pre-race favorite Shane van Gisbergen in sixth. But there are points to be gained, and if the No. 71 Chevrolet has race-winning speed, the Travis Peterson-led bunch might need to sacrifice stage points for a better finish. Not ideal for a team 21st in the regular-season championship standings, 34 points below Ryan Preece for the bubble spot.

“It all comes down to executing what we think is the best plan, and we won’t know that until the race starts,” McDowell said. “If we have the pace and are able to run up front and be leading or close to SVG and feel like we’re making pace with him, then we have to go for the win. If we’re not, then you have to think about points.”

MORE: Last-minute Fantasy Fastlane advice | Cup Series standings

After the Coca-Cola 600 last month, a crown jewel in which McDowell’s Spire teammate Daniel Suárez won, he fell to a season-worst 55 points below the cutline. In the four races since, he’s chipped away at the deficit and is within range to make a late rally.

The final nine-race stretch of the regular season is going to be a challenge for McDowell to squeak into the postseason. But ultimately, he believes the speed is there to perform at a high level as the other two Spire drivers — Suárez and Carson Hocevar — currently hold top-10 spots.

“The bottom line is you have 26 races to make it in,” McDowell said. “We’ve already thrown away seven of them. At the end of the day, it’s nobody’s fault but our own. For us, we have to make these next two months really count, and I think we can do that.”