The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford driven by Anthony Alfredo will start at the rear of the field for an inspection violation found prior to the start of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Crew chief Seth Barbour has been ejected for the violation.
Alfredo, a rookie in the sport’s top series, was slated to start 28th in the 37-car field and is making his first career start at Sonoma. The 21-year-old has made 15 starts this season with a best finish of 12th at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
Scott Heckert and the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford will also start at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments. Heckert is making his second Cup start and was set to start 35th in Sunday’s race.
Kaulig Racing driver AJ Allmendinger and owner Matt Kaulig were riding high Saturday after the Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and rightly so. Their No. 16 Chevrolet was parked in Victory Lane for the second time this season. The smiles on their faces during post-race media availability were expected and evident.
Neither Kaulig nor Allmendinger faltered when asked if Allmendinger will pilot a Cup Series car for Kaulig Racing in 2022 as the team plans its anticipated full-time foray to the premier series.
“He’s definitely on our short list,” Kaulig said. “We fully plan on running at least one car in the Cup Series next year full time. Whether that’s AJ or someone else, we’re really not sure. I think AJ, regardless, will run road courses or maybe some superspeedways, I don’t know.”
Kaulig then clarified, however, that the team will seat only one driver in its full-time car so he or she can be eligible for the playoffs and championship. The Chevrolet-backed organization has not obtained a 2022 charter yet.
Mentioning Allmendinger for road courses and superspeedways, along with saying “at least one car,” does make it seem like there is more in the works than what has already been announced, which was simply a confirmed 2022 full-time effort in the Cup Series.
Allmendinger must have caught the possible slip-up since he covered with a joke immediately afterward.
“I might be the one driving the truck to the road courses and superspeedway races,” Allmendinger said. “They may part time me for that.”
Allmendinger has Cup Series experience — 373 starts to be exact, with two coming this year. He raced there full time from 2009-11 and then again from 2014-18. Allmendinger has one career win from 2014 at Watkins Glen International that came along with a postseason berth.
Since 2019, Allmendinger has been in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing. He had five starts in 2019 and 11 in 2020 before signing on full time in 2021. Allmendinger credits his current team for falling back in love with the sport.
“I’ve told Matt and Chris (Rice) that no matter what the role is, I just want to keep being a part of the growth,” Allmendinger said. “Because I truly enjoy it. And that’s something since 2019, I’ve enjoyed more than I thought I would.”
With a remarkable run from the back of the field in the final stage at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, AJ Allmendinger charged to an overtime victory in Saturday’s B&L Transport 170 and tied Marcos Ambrose for the most NASCAR Xfinity Series road course wins all-time.
The triumph at the home track of team owner Matt Kaulig was the fifth in the series on a road course for Allmendinger, the first two-time winner at the technical 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit. Allmendinger went to Victory Lane in the inaugural event at the Lexington, Ohio, track in 2013.
After suffering a rear-of-the-field penalty for not taking the required 50 seconds on pit road under modified pit road rules, Allmendinger restarted 19th on Lap 56 of a scheduled 75 and quickly began working his way through the field.
When teammate Jeb Burton slid into a gravel trap off Turn 4 on Lap 68 to cause the sixth caution of the race, Allmendinger had climbed to third and took full advantage of a restart on Lap 72, diving to the inside and taking race leader and reigning series champion Austin Cindric and second-place Ty Gibbs three-wide in the first corner.
Allmendinger survived contact with Gibbs’ Toyota and came out of the corner with the lead, but Cindric pin-balled off the cars of Gibbs and Michael Annett and spun through the grass, ending his winning chances.
After a seventh caution for a wreck involving, Kris Wright, Alex Labbe and Kyle Weatherman, Allmendinger pulled away from Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley to win by .809 seconds. Haley nursed a car with right-front damage to the runner-up finish, one spot ahead of Gibbs.
“I’m not going to lie; I was a little upset,” Allmendinger said of the penalty. “But we win and lose as a team, so I was going to fight until the checkered flag flew. I knew we had the best car …
“I was shocked that Cindric took the outside (on the restart) … I know these guys would do it to me, so I was barreling in there when I saw a gap, and I was going to come out on the other side clean.”
Indianapolis 500 winning car owner Michael Shank, who fielded the team with which Allmendinger won the 50th running of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in 2012, was watching from the pits and predicted his good friend would recover from the penalty.
“He came here to see me,” said Allmendinger, who won for the second time this season and the seventh time in his career. “How lucky am I? I love Shank. And this is Matt Kaulig’s Super Bowl … It’s just such a big deal. I always want to win for him, but here, I put a lot more pressure on myself to try to win.”
Gibbs, for one, wasn’t happy with Allmendinger’s move to the inside on the decisive restart.
“The 16 (Allmendinger) did us a little dirty there,” said Gibbs, who nevertheless collected his sixth top five (including two wins) in his seventh Xfinity Series start. “I feel like there is a point, you know … we are racing in Xfinity cars at road courses. It’s always going to be rough, but he took it to the next level.
“I guess I was a little torpedoed. I got the 22 (Cindric), knocked him out, but, yeah, I didn’t really have anywhere to go. That’s just part of it — part of the end of these races. Things get rough.”
Cindric, who led a race-high 30 laps to Allmendinger’s 23, finished 14th. Brandon Jones and road course ace Andy Lally ran fourth and fifth, respectively. Brandon Brown, Michael Annett, Josh Berry, Ryan Sieg and Josh Williams completed the to 10.
In addition to finishing 1-2, Allmendinger and Haley won Stages 1 and 2, respectively. Allmendinger increased his Playoff point total to 13, seven behind Cindric’s series-leading 20.
Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (⏰ 4 p.m. ET | 📺 FS1 | 📻 PRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday’s race, the 16th points-paying NASCAR Cup Series event of the 2021 season.
Where: Sonoma Raceway, 2.52-mile road course in Sonoma, California Qualifying: Kyle Larson won Busch Pole Award | Lineup Green flag: 4:14 p.m. ET TV/Radio: FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Forecast: Sunny, with a high near 85 degrees. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph., according to NOAA.gov. Grand Marshal: Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers head coach Race Distance: 90 laps, 226.8 miles Stages: 20 | 40 | 90 Pit-road speed: 40 mph Caution car speed: 45 mph Sonoma 101: Get the full lowdown
Entry list: See who’s in the field Pit-stall assignments: See who is pitting where| Expert breaks down pit selectionsJonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Five to watch
Here are five big story lines we’ll be following at Sonoma Raceway.
1. Reigning champion Chase Elliott has won five of the last six road-course races, including the Cup Series’ most recent event at Circuit of The Americas. Elliott is NASCAR’s active leader in road-course wins with six career victories — none at Sonoma, though.
2. Ten drivers will be making their Cup Series debut at Sonoma: Anthony Alfredo, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer, James Davison, Scott Heckert, Quin Houff, Tyler Reddick, Ben Rhodes and Garrett Smithley. Six are full-time drivers (Alfredo, Bell, Briscoe, Custer, Houff and Reddick), and only one is locked into the 2021 NASCAR Playoffs (Bell) thanks to a road-course win (Daytona Road Course).
3. Martin Truex Jr. has won the past two races at Sonoma (Jeff Gordon is the only driver to win three in a row from 1998-2000) and then a third back in 2013. He is the track’s winningest active driver. Truex is also one of three drivers in 2021 with multiple wins (three) through 15 races. Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson own two wins apiece but have never won at Sonoma.
4. Out of the two road-course races so far this season, Elliott (COTA) and Christopher Bell (Daytona Road Course) have won. Elliott’s win was two races ago. Bell’s was back in the second race of 2021, and his results haven’t been stellar since. In the seven races after his win, Bell did have four top-10 finishes. But in the past six races, he hasn’t posted one.
5. There are only four drivers who finished in the top 10 in the two road-course events this year, and none of them are either of the race winners. Joey Logano (second at Daytona Road Course, third at COTA), AJ Allmendinger (not entered into Sunday’s race; seventh at DRC, fifth at COTA), Michael McDowell (eighth at DRC, seventh at COTA) and Bowman (10th at DRC, eighth at COTA).
Race-day staples
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
•Power Rankings: Can Kyle Busch end Hendrick Motorsports’ power party? |Scope the ranks •Paint Scheme Preview: Check out the paint schemes for wine country |See the schemes •Fantasy Fastlane: See which drivers to use, avoid | Full Fantasy advice |Set your roster •Preview Show: Jonathan Merryman and Alex Weaver preview the race | Watch the show
Get in on the action
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• Betting odds for the Sonoma race | See the odds
• Big bets expected on favorites, but long shots loom | Who to bet • Ten drivers in Sunday’s field who have never raced at Sonoma | Analyze the newbies
• Martin Truex Jr. returns to Sonoma as two-time defending winner | Read the preview • Take a shot at winning cash prizes with the free-to-play Jackpot Races app | Hit the jackpot
• Full guide to 2021 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ
Turning left … and right
Learn all about NASCAR’s history on road courses and the drivers considered to be the best at the track type.
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
• Brad Keselowski has never won a road-course race in 26 starts, though he is a three-time runner-up.
• Denny Hamlin has led the most laps four times this season but remains winless.
• Aric Almirola has never finished in the top five in 23 road-course starts.
• Six of the last nine Sonoma winners got their first win of the season.
• Four different organizations won in 2021, but Stewart-Haas Racing is not one of them.
Catch the pack
Read up on all the headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
• Back at home: Jill Gregory welcomes NASCAR, fans back to Sonoma | Read more
• All-Star Race: Fan Vote still open, latest top 10 revealed | Read more
• Byron’s back: William Byron to make Truck Series return at Nashville | Read more
• Downtown driving: Chicago Street Course now available on iRacing | Read more
• Step toward normalcy: Several tracks set to fully reopen as COVID-19 limits lift | Read more
• Scholarship program: NASCAR partners with Stay Plugged IN on esports initiative | Read more
• Pro Invitational Series: James Davison wins at Chicago Street Course | Read more
• Title venue: Phoenix Raceway to host 2022 Championship Weekend | Read more
Say what?
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
“Yeah, going to a road course, I’m going to need the fastest pit crew on pit road to make up for my lack of road-course skills. It’s great to have them. They’ve been so strong all year. Strategy is really key at Sonoma. There’s a big balance between stage points and just trying to finish the race the strongest you can. Just trying to balance that and being a good shot to try and go win that thing.” — Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
“Sonoma is a racetrack that I haven’t been to in my career, not just in the Cup Series, but in any series. That doesn’t really concern me, though. I’ve been watching a lot of video of past races and we have a good notebook here at Hendrick Motorsports. From what I can tell, if you get buried in traffic, it’s hard to make up positions, even with pit strategy. Sonoma is a track where you either have to go for the win or go for maximum points. It doesn’t seem to be like most road courses where you can go for stage points in one stage and give up the points in another. You have to pick one strategy or the other, which is a challenge.” — Rudy Fugle, crew chief No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Maddie Meyer | Getty Images
“Our team is definitely looking forward to going back to Sonoma. It’s a place we have a lot of confidence going to, regardless of the track layout or the aero package. We’ve been fortunate to have had some good races there the last few times and been able to get to Victory Lane. We’ll have our work cut out for us on Sunday, but we feel like it’s a place we should run up front and have a shot to win at.” — Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
“Nobody is happy right now is the thing. We’re all trying to find different things to try and make our cars better and it’s just, like I said before, there’s no good way to really go about it right now when you don’t have any practice. That’s the plain and simple point. When you don’t have any practice you’re kind of guessing and you’re thinking through things and trying things at the simulator and you think they’re better, but if you’re not able to do it at that certain racetrack that certain weekend, you really don’t know how it’s gonna work out when you don’t have any practice time. In the Cup Series the competition is so stiff that if you’re off for that first run, it ruins your whole day.” — Cole Custer, No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Elevation isn’t exactly a key component of NASCAR racing, unless of course you’re talking about Sonoma. If you’ve ever visited the venue, you’ll quickly pick up on its unique attributes, as drivers actually do deal with uphill and downhill portions of the venue. It’s a once-a-year locale for stock-car drivers and forces them out of their element.
That’s what is fun about Sonoma, which will host the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Some of the drivers love this place, just north of the San Francisco bay area in wine country. Some drivers won’t admit they hate it, but you can tell by several career struggles how they probably feel — off-the-record of course.
There’s a reason Chase Elliott tops the NASCAR odds this week, and it’s not only because he’s the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion. It’s because he’s dominated road-course racing over the past few years.
Elliott has won six of his 12 career Cup Series races juking-and-jiving his way through the rare road-course version of NASCAR. He’s only been on road courses 14 times in his Cup career, yet has six wins. Now do you understand?
Let’s backpedal for a second: It has taken him 14 road-course races to nab six wins and 186 to collect his other six career wins in the top circuit of stock-car racing. Think about that.
It makes a ton of sense to see him as a favorite, but keep in mind he’s in a race this weekend with four guys who’ve won a total of seven Cup races at the California track. Martin Truex Jr. (three career wins), Kyle Busch (two), Kurt Busch (one), and Kevin Harvick (one) have more experience here. How will they factor in?
OTHERS: Not surprisingly, Martin Truex Jr. (+375), red-hot Kyle Larson (+750), and Kyle Busch (+750) are right behind Elliott in the road-course racing odds at Sonoma. Truex is running well this year, Kyle Busch is Kyle Busch, and Larson is the hottest driver on the circuit right now. How will they perform? We shall see.
Kurt has been here 20 times as of this weekend, along with Kevin Harvick (+1500). They both are tied with the most success — top 10-wise — with 10 career top-10 finishes.
Harvick and Kurt have both won here, and Kurt has seven top-five finishes to edge out Harvick’s six. They are the old men in the race, but old men have the experience to wheel around a place like this and upset the NASCAR apple cart.
Any young up-and-comer will want to keep an eye on these guys.
OTHERS: Ryan Blaney (+2000) has a road-course win in the Cup Series at Charlotte in 2018 and won a road-course race when he was in the Camping World Truck Series (Bowmanville). He has two top 10s and a top-five finish in his four career Cup Series starts at Sonoma.
Bowman has been a consistent performer on road-course tracks. He’s only raced four times at Sonoma, and has a top 10 performance, but he’s doing well this year (12th in the Cup Series standings) and has seven top-10 finishes in 15 races this year. He also has two wins this year and is with red hot Hendrick MotorSports — do the math, right?
Erik Jones (+15000) is also intriguing, considering he has two career top 10s in three starts at Sonoma.
Hendrick Motorsports Executive Vice President and General Manager Jeff Andrews issued an apology to collaborative-partner organization Chip Ganassi Racing on Friday, taking responsibility for the performance of Ganassi’s engines during Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“We have made some corrections there and I do have to say that those are some of the toughest nights of all when you affect a great partner like we have in Chip Ganassi Racing and all their employees,” Andrews said in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We owe an apology to them because we let them down in a big, big way with both of their cars over there the other night.”
Despite Hendrick’s record-setting night, both Chip Ganassi Chevrolets landed on the opposite end of the spectrum. Ross Chastain finished 41 laps down in 37th position, while Kurt Busch completed only 139 laps before bowing out with engine issues to finish last in the 38-car field.
Andrews stated the teams are already joining forces to work on making corrections to the problems that affected CGR’s front-drive systems.
“We’ve made adjustments there and we’re moving forward,” Andrews said. “We’re working closely with those guys and staying in touch with them on exactly what happened. That was 100% on us.”
The Chip Ganassi Racing teams will look to bounce back at Sonoma Raceway this Sunday (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM). Busch saddles up for his 20th career start at the track, while Chastain will make his second.
Editor’s note: Before TrackPass’ airing of the return to racing at Bowman Gray Stadium on Saturday (8 p.m. ET), NASCAR.com’s Zack Albert offers his reflections of the Madhouse, a venue where he and his family watched many a race. | Subscribe to TrackPass here
Growing up, I thought every track was just like Bowman Gray Stadium. My family has lived in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, area for generations, so for Saturday night short-track racing, that’s just where we went.
The thought in my still-developing, grade-school mind was that every local short track regularly topped five figures in attendance for any given race meet (… they don’t) with admission prices that still barely crack two figures (again, no). Every track, I figured, featured the unbridled tour-type Modified cars (they don’t) on a tiny, flat track around a football field (they most certainly don’t). That’s what I knew because that’s where we went.
Now having been to other bullrings out in the wild, can confirm: There is no place like Bowman Gray Stadium.
Before much more ground is covered, some disclosure and personal reference points: I stuck with Bowman Gray long enough to make the track home to a supplemental summer job through high school and college summers, keeping the points standings up to date and accepting any other go-fer work as needed. It was briefly part of a full-time job after college, working for the great newsman and PR whiz Hank Schoolfield. I still try to take as many current colleagues there to experience the stadium as our schedules allow.
Much earlier, back when lunch boxes and footed pajamas were still age-appropriate, Saturday mornings meant 1) cartoons and 2) checking the Winston-Salem Journal sports pages for the stadium’s weekly ad. Anything that read “Madhouse Scramble!” meant twin features and the track’s quirky inversion system. “Ladies Night!” (free admission back in those days) meant Mom might be a good sport and go with. “Demolition Derby!” meant my begging for Dad to take us would only be more intense, given my tendency to weaponize my Hot Wheels and Matchbox collection for crash re-enactments that would make a “Days of Thunder” scriptwriter blush.
Grant Halverson | Getty Images
Going meant getting a program, which often provided reading material that would last well into the next week. There were ads featuring drivers lucky (or good) enough to have sponsors willing to foot the bill for product placement, pictures from the previous week’s events and a roster of competitors for each of the four divisions, with their nearby hometowns.
And Lord, the names. For every Jimmy, Johnny, Billy or Robert, there were a substantial percentage of names that only seemed appropriate either on the driver roster or in a Marvel comic. Spider. Bubba. Dink. Eb. Puddin’. Even the long list of former track champions is crowded with entries for Pee Wee, Perk and Satch.
For years, the program listed every feature winner since the track began its operations in 1949. NASCAR Hall of Famers such as Tim Flock and Glen Wood blended in with local legends, and the 29 Cup Series races the quarter-mile hosted from 1958-71 were included. Richard Petty, David Pearson, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison and Rex White all won there.
Each feature victory was listed in 7- or 8-point type, and the text seemed to get smaller each year in order to fit on a program page. It’s probably why I needed glasses at such a young age and, in turn, probably why Paul Radford was my favorite driver. Sure, he had a cool nickname — the “Ferrum Flash” in a nod to his Virginia hometown — and drove a bright orange No. 07 Modified, but the key connection was that he wore eyeglasses, something that made me more OK with being teased as “four eyes” as a kid.
Forging a personal bond with the weekly program and the stadium’s stars wasn’t exclusive just to me. Depending on which driver was featured on the cover of that Saturday night’s program (usually a winner from the previous week), some fans would rip the first page off and trash it if the driver was a bitter rival.
The rooting interests and passions still run deep at the stadium, almost cartoonishly so. The pictures of school-age kids in the front row offering middle-finger salutes to their racing villains has nearly reached meme status. And the near-weekly antics that turn viral on social media — be it physical confrontations involving cars, fists or both — have sometimes blurred the lines between racing and reality TV. It’s why the track and safety workers who respond to wrecks usually have the Winston-Salem police alongside them just in case a YouTube moment erupts.
Don’t point the finger (index, middle or other) at social media, though, because haymakers and brushback pitches have been happening at Bowman Gray before Facebook was ever a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye. Allison and Curtis Turner unleashed all manner of hell on their cars’ bodywork in a rough-and-tumble clash during the Grand National era that’s still talked about. The story has mutated with each retelling but usually ends with a ticked-off Turner buzzing the track with his plane on the way out of town.
The track’s legend and reputation have reached far outside of the North Carolina piedmont in recent years, perhaps partly because of its ability to go viral but it’s also an embrace that’s attributable to a renewed interest in stock-car racing history at the grassroots level. Bowman Gray has been doing this with some success for 70-plus years now, and after a season lost to COVID-19 in 2020, its racing schedule will resume this Saturday night with its annual 200-lap Modified main event.
The track has evolved with recent facility upgrades and some of the names have changed on both the driver roster and list of feature winners, but the sights, sounds and smells all feel familiar no matter the year. Before the track’s “Madhouse” nickname took on a life of its own, in our household it was simply called “the stadium,” with no other descriptors necessary.
More than a quarter of Sunday’s field for the NASCAR race at Sonoma Raceway has never turned a lap in a Cup Series car around the 2.52-mile road course in California.
There are 37 drivers entered in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and 10 will be making their Sonoma debuts in NASCAR. Of those 10, six are full-time 2021 competitors. Then, of those six, only two are rookies, which makes their introductions a given since Sonoma is a Cup-only track, and the other four lost their chance in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of Sonoma’s sole event.
Take a look at all 10 drivers and their situations (alphabetically listed):
Anthony Alfredo – full time; rookie season with Front Row Motorsports.
Christopher Bell – second full-time season, now with Joe Gibbs Racing; no Sonoma race in 2020.
Chase Briscoe – full time; rookie season with Stewart-Haas Racing.
Cole Custer – second full-time season with Stewart-Haas Racing; no Sonoma race in 2020.
James Davison – second part-time season, now with Rick Ware Racing; never raced Sonoma.
Scott Heckert – making second career Cup Series start with Live Fast Motorsports; previous was not at Sonoma.
Quin Houff – second full-time season with StarCom Racing; no Sonoma race in 2020.
Tyler Reddick – second full-time season with Richard Childress Racing; no Sonoma race in 2020.
Ben Rhodes – making first career Cup Series start with Spire Motorsports.
Garrett Smithley – fourth part-time season, now with Rick Ware Racing; never raced Sonoma.
Alfredo, Bell, Briscoe, Custer, Houff and Reddick are the six full-time Cup Series drivers right now fighting for points and ultimately the championship. Even though Bell is the only one who has won a race this season (Daytona Road Course) and is therefore automatically locked into the 2021 NASCAR Playoffs, Reddick ranks the highest in the current points standings among his Sonoma first-timers. He’s 13th. Bell is 15th.
The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet pilot has placed in the top 10 in eight of the 15 events down. Through last year’s 36-race schedule, he had nine top-10 finishes total – so he’s already on pace to set a career high. Also, the last time an RCR driver had at least eight top-10 results at this point was 2015 with Ryan Newman, who was in his 14th full-time season. Reddick is in just his second.
Reddick matched his career-best finish of second in the third event of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He was runner-up at Texas Motor Speedway last year in the 18th race of the season.
Two weeks ago at Circuit of The Americas, Reddick won the Busch Pole Award, and it not only marked his first career pole but also Richard Childress Racing’s first road-course pole since 1996 with Dale Earnhardt.
BetMGM has Reddick at 50-1 odds to win Sunday. Bell is a bit better at 25-1 odds, but he hasn’t posted a top-10 run since Richmond Raceway in April – seven races ago. Reddick, meanwhile, is riding a three-race top-10 streak – and seven in the last nine – that includes a ninth-place showing at COTA.
So, based on overall consistency and recent performance, Reddick looks to be the favorite out of the 10 Sonoma newbies.
Semi-related and worth noting: There are also three new teams making their Sonoma debut – 23XI Racing with driver Bubba Wallace, Trackhouse Racing Team with Daniel Suarez and Live Fast Motorsports with Heckert. Wallace has two career Sonoma starts. Suarez has three.
Charlotte, NC– Today, NASCAR announced a partnership with Stay Plugged IN, the leading organizer of collegiate recruiting events in the US, to bring a three-part scholarship series to students throughout the country.
The partnership will see NASCAR provide scholarships to students interested in pursuing esports and gaming scholastically. Over the summer months, Stay Plugged IN will organize and produce two amateur tournaments where participants have the opportunity to compete in front of collegiate recruiters from around the country. Throughout gameplay, contestants will utilize NASCAR-themed vehicles available to the public for purchase in game.Additionally as part of the partnership will be a game creation competition where students learn to use coding to design games through the use of a coding platform. The partnership also creates resume building and experiential learning opportunities for students wishing to apply their skills at the collegiate level.
“Gaming is part of our DNA here at NASCAR – and we are firm believers in what the gaming world can offer students as they begin to map out their lives and careers,” said Nick Rend, NASCAR managing director of gaming and esports. “Whether it is competing in a high-level esports environment, building a career in the business of gaming, or some combination of the two, there are endless opportunities available to students to engage with the modern gaming world in a meaningful and rewarding way – and we are committed to doing our part to ensure that students can take advantage of these opportunities with the help of our friends at Stay Plugged IN.”
“We’re incredibly excited to work with NASCAR to give students more opportunities to learn, grow, and develop their skills in the gaming industry. NASCAR’s strong brand enables us to get our message out to many students across the US that may not realize the wealth of possibilities esports can bring them. We hope NASCAR fans can see how esports can be beneficial, and we know that many esports fans will be excited by the chance NASCAR is providing. Our visions aligned to blend a series of competition and educational curriculum in a way that engages students through STEM. With our companies being headquartered in Charlotte, it was a natural fit to introduce this program in our local community as well as on our national platform,” said SPIN Managing Director, Rick Suarez.
NASCAR, known globally as a leading promoter of motorsports, has made major strides in advancing its efforts in the gaming and esports landscape over the past decade – as today’s fans are able to engage with the sport across a variety of platforms such as iRacing.com, the NASCAR Heat series, Real Racing 3, and most recently via a new in-game content partnership with Rocket League.
Power Rankings: Can Kyle Busch end Hendrick Motorsports’ power party? | 
