Sonoma Raceway
Sunday, June 12, 2022
1.99-Mile Road Course
4:00 PM ET
Location: Sonoma, California
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (16 of 36)
Radio: SiriusXM, PRN
5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 29 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 7th
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available in the Sonoma Raceway media center on Saturday, June 11, at 11 a.m. local time.
WINE COUNTRY WINNER: Last year at Sonoma Raceway, Kyle Larson won both stages en route to victory in the 92-lap race. The Elk Grove, California, native led 57 laps from the pole position to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series road course victory.
KING OF THE ROAD: Larson won three road course events in 2021, the most ever during a Cup Series season. Victories at Sonoma in June, Watkins Glen International in August and the Charlotte ROVAL in October were integral during his 10-win Cup Series championship season.
POSSIBLY FIVE FOR 5: The 29-year-old driver has started from the pole position in the last four events held at the Northern California track. In 2017 and 2018, he set the fastest time during qualifying on the 1.99-mile layout while, in 2019, Larson set the quick time on the 2.52-mile circuit that included the carousel. No race was held at Sonoma in 2020 due to the pandemic. Last year, the driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 started from the top spot in the field based on the metric qualifying system NASCAR used to determine the starting order at venues where time trials did not occur. Qualifying for this weekend’s event is scheduled for Saturday.
BROKEN RECORD: Larson’s three consecutive pole positions from 2017-19 tie him with Ricky Rudd (1990–92) for the most consecutive poles at Sonoma. He will have the opportunity to break that record during Saturday’s session while also improving his track-best average starting position of 2.29.
ROAD COURSE RINGERS: Only two Hendrick Motorsports drivers have scored more wins on road courses than Larson. On serpentine layouts in the Cup Series, the all-time winningest driver is NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon with nine while Chase Elliott has crossed the line first on seven occasions.
BEST MAN: On Thursday, Larson will serve as the best man in childhood friend Colby Copeland’s wedding. Copeland, who was best man for Larson’s wedding in 2018, serves as an additional spotter for the No. 5 team during road course events.
HOME RACE: At Sonoma this weekend, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team will wear their “home” white uniforms. Home races occur in markets where there are Hendrick Automotive Group dealerships nearby, and the Bay Area is home to five of them. Be sure to follow Hendrick Automotive Group’s social media channels and visit HendrickCars.com to view the complete home and away schedule.
SPECIAL GUESTS: Hendrick Automotive Group is hosting 300 people Sunday, including dealership teammates and 50 students from Proctor Elementary School. Proctor is supported by the local dealerships year-round and will receive a Hendrick, Get Set, Go! grant to support STEM education. For more information on Hendrick Cares programs, please click here.
9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 26 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 1st
No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
COTA CATCH-UP: In the first road course race of the year for the NASCAR Cup Series at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Chase Elliott qualified 12th and drove to a fourth-place finish after a caution-filled final stage that sent the race into overtime. It was the first of his three top-five finishes this season.
SONOMA REWIND: Last season at Sonoma Raceway, Elliott started second and finished inside the top-10 in each stage, leading 13 total laps en route to a runner-up finish behind teammate Kyle Larson. In his five career Cup Series starts at the track, he has two top-five finishes and three top-10s with 16 laps led. Sonoma is one of only two road courses (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course is the other) on the current Cup Series schedule he has yet to win on.
2021 ROAD COURSE RECAP: Last season, Elliott earned two wins (COTA and Road America), two runner-up finishes and five top-five finishes across seven starts on road courses. The Hendrick Motorsports driver earned two stage wins and led 102 laps on that track type.
ROAD COURSE KING: Elliott has proven his road-racing prowess, leading all active drivers with seven wins on road courses. He’s also third on the overall list of drivers with road course victories, trailing only NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight). Elliott has victories across five different road courses, the most in series history.
IN GOOD COMPANY: In 20 Cup Series starts on road courses, Elliott has an average finish of 7.7, with seven wins, 12 top-five finishes and 14 top-10s. His average finish is not only the best among active drivers, but third all-time among drivers with five or more starts, behind NASCAR legends Fireball Roberts and Buck Baker.
POINTS LEADER: Despite two tough results in a row for Elliott and the No. 9 team, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native continues to hold the Cup Series points lead by nine markers over Kyle Busch. Elliott has been atop the standings for 11 consecutive weeks.
FIRST WIN: Elliott’s first career Cup Series win occurred on a road course. He conquered Watkins Glen International in 2018 after starting the race from the third position and leading 52 of 90 laps en route to the victory.
AG’S ROAD COURSE PERFORMANCE: This Sunday at Sonoma, No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson will call his 42nd road course race from atop the pit box. In those starts, he’s led his team to seven wins – a series-high among active crew chiefs – 15 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s.
24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 24 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 9th
No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
2022 SO FAR: To date in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron has scored two wins, four top-five finishes, three stage wins and accumulated 13 playoff points. His 570 laps led are the most by a driver this season and have come across 11 of the 15 races – tied with two other drivers (teammate Kyle Larson as well as Kyle Busch) for the second-most races led. He is currently ninth in the driver point standings and is locked into the Cup Series playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
ROAD RESULTS: During his Cup Series career, Byron has been working to step up his road course racing skills. In the last five road course races to hold qualifying, Byron has won the pole for three of them (Charlotte ROVAL in 2019, Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021). He’s also led the fourth-most laps on road courses since the start of 2021 (51) including leading the most laps in two of the last nine road course races. Byron also has collected two stage wins on road courses – tied for the seventh-most all-time with three other drivers (Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez).
SONOMA STATS: This Sunday’s race will mark Byron’s fourth Cup Series start at Sonoma Raceway. In his previous three starts, his best showing came in 2019 when he qualified second and raced up front for the majority of the event, collecting 18 stage points and his first Cup Series stage win. However, with differing strategy, Byron was credited with a 19th-place result. Aside from his three Cup Series starts, Byron has two previous starts at this road course with both coming in what is now known as the ARCA Menards Series West. In fact, his first road race in a stock car came at Sonoma in 2015 where he qualified second and raced to a fifth-place finish. He again ran the ARCA Menards Series West race in 2018, tying his best qualifying effort of second, but crossed the finish line two spots better than his 2015 showing, in the third position.
FUGLE FILES: So far in 2022, the NASCAR Cup Series has raced on one road course – Circuit of The Americas – where crew chief Rudy Fugle and the No. 24 team scored a 12th-place finish. In total, Fugle has eight Cup Series starts on road courses, three starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and seven in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In those seven Truck Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has one win (Erik Jones, 2015), three top-five finishes, and five top-10s. One of those seven truck starts was also with Byron where the duo raced to a 10th-place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2016.
BACK TO THE ROOTS: Going back to his racing roots, Byron will once again climb back behind the wheel of the No. 24 Super Late Model for Wilson Motorsports this year, this time at Berlin Raceway on Wednesday. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has raced the No. 24 Super Late Model five times this year – three times at New Smyrna Speedway, once at Hickory Motor Speedway, and most recently at the Nashville Fairgrounds – scoring four wins total.
RAPTOR® TOUGH: Ready to take on Sonoma, Byron will be back behind the wheel of the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Sunday’s event. RAPTOR® is a durable protective coating and bed liner that is designed to tolerate the toughest climatic conditions and can be applied to a wide range of substrates from steel, wood, concrete and plaster to plastics and composites. Resistant to common fuels, U.V., scratches and stains, RAPTOR® is available at local paint distributors, auto parts stores and can also be purchased from online retailers like Amazon.
48 Alex Bowman
Age: 29 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Resides: Concord, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Greg Ives
Standings: 8th
No. 48 Ally/Better Together Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
OH, SO CLOSE: Last time Alex Bowman raced on a road course, he took home a second-place finish at Circuit of The Americas. The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was fighting for the lead heading into turn 18 at the Texas venue. He was then hit by AJ Allmendinger, who was spun out by race winner Ross Chastain, resulting in his runner-up result.
HANG A RIGHT: Since the start of 2018, Bowman has tallied nine top-10 finishes on road courses, with two of those being runner-up results. He is tied with three other drivers (Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric) at two consecutive top-10s on that track type with only Ryan Blaney having a longer active streak at three.
WEST COAST, BEST COAST: The 29-year-old driver has managed to take home hardware from the West Coast on two separate occasions since the start of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. He notched a win in March 2020 at Auto Club Speedway, followed by his most recent win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March 2022. This year, Bowman has garnered 96 points in all West Coast races, one marker behind teammates William Byron and standings leader Chase Elliott.
SLEEPER PICK: In his eighth season in the Cup Series, Bowman continues to silently surmount another banner year as the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevy. Through 15 races, Bowman has one win (Las Vegas), three top-five finishes, nine top-10s, and an average finish of 11.8. He has more top-10s through 15 races than ever before in his Cup Series career and is one of three drivers with nine – Elliott and Chastain are the others. The trio only trails Kyle Busch (11) for the most front-runner finishes this season.
TRUCKING OUT WEST: Saturday night will see Bowman strap into the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Sonoma Raceway. Last time the Tucson, Arizona, native got behind the wheel of a truck, he started third at COTA in the No. 7 Chevy and made his way through the field, but was taken out on the last lap, resulting in a 25th-place result.
PIT STOP POWER: The No. 48 Ally Racing pit crew had the third-fastest four-tire pit stop average of 10.9 seconds last Sunday at WWTR. Across all pit stops, the five-man team gained seven positions on pit road – third-best of all teams in the Cup Series that day. The Ally Racing pit crew is made up of fueler Jacob Conley, jackman Eric Ludwig, tire carrier Allen Stallings and tire changers Scott Brzozowski (front) and Devin DelRicco (rear).
WEAR IT PROUD: In an effort to support the LGBTQ+ community, Ally will run the PrideALLYS decal on the rear fenders and on the TV panel of the No. 48 Ally/Better Together Chevy at Sonoma. As part of the employee resource group, Ally is committed to promoting inclusion practices for the LGBTQ+ community at and around Ally.
NEARING 100,000: Hendrick Motorsports needs to lead 98 miles in the NASCAR Cup Series to cross 100,000 miles led in the sport’s top series. Ahead of Sunday’s race, the organization has led 99,902.90 miles at the Cup level. Crossing the 100K milestone would be achieved by leading 50 laps at the 1.99-mile layout at Sonoma Raceway. Through 15 points-paying races in 2022, the four-car team has led 1,445.43 miles.
AT YOUR SIRVIS: Beginning this weekend at Sonoma, SirviS will appear on the B-post on all Hendrick Motorsports race cars. In 2020, Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, partnered with Hendrick Motorsports to form a multi-year marketing and technology relationship. SirviS recently joined the Acronis’ #TeamUp program.
ROAD WARRIORS: Throughout its history, Hendrick Motorsports has 25 wins on road courses in the Cup Series. Since the organization’s inaugural season in 1984, the squad has won 29% of all races on Cup Series road courses (25 of 86). The two closest teams in this statistic have combined for only 21 wins.
COUNTING ‘EM UP: The 25 road course wins have come from seven different drivers – most for any team in the Cup ranks. Jeff Gordon leads the way for the team with nine victories (which are also the most among all drivers) followed by Chase Elliott with seven. Tim Richmond and Kyle Larson are tied for third on the list with three wins apiece. Geoff Bodine, Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Rudd each tallied one victory.
READY FOR THE ROAD: In addition to road course wins, Hendrick Motorsports stands at the top of the board on road courses in the following stats: Poles (21), top-five finishes (76), top-10s (132), laps led (2,020) and stage wins (12).
SAVORING SONOMA: Wine country has been the sight of much success for Hendrick Motorsports over the years. Much like its overall road course success, the team leads the way in wins (seven), poles (nine), runner-up finishes (seven), top-fives (33), top-10s (57) and laps led (749) at the California facility. Gordon’s five wins at Sonoma are the most at the track, while Johnson and Larson each have one win here for the Rick Hendrick-owned company.
FROM WINE COUNTRY TO TITLE TOWN: The Sonoma race winner has gone on to win the championship five times in Cup Series history. Three of those instances involved Hendrick Motorsports drivers: Gordon (1998), Johnson (2010) and Larson (2021). Tony Stewart (2005) and Kyle Busch (2015) were the others to achieve this feat.
SWEEP SENSATIONS: In the era of stage racing, there have been two times – both by Hendrick Motorsports – when one driver swept every road course stage and won the race. Elliott was the first to do so in his 2019 win at Watkins Glen International. Larson also accomplished this with his victory last season at Sonoma.
WEST COAST WINS: The four-car organization out of Concord, North Carolina, has won seven of the last 12 races contested on the West Coast. Larson has four of those wins, while Alex Bowman has two and Elliott has one. Both Larson (Auto Club Speedway) and Bowman (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) earned wins on the western swing earlier this season. In total, Hendrick Motorsports has 41 wins on the West Coast – the most of any organization.
QUOTABLE /
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Sonoma Raceway: “I’ve always had some good speed at Sonoma (Raceway) and it’s my home track. It’s always fun to see my friends and family, and it was cool to get my first win at my home track last year. But that was with last year’s car and on the longer track. Hopefully, we can get another pole there this weekend, lead some laps and challenge for the win again.”
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the track without the carousel: “The track layout will be a different element compared to the last couple trips we’ve made there. We’ll place a little more emphasis on right-hand turns because so much focus was placed on the carousel and the left-hand turning capability of the car – and now we don’t race that portion of the track. It’s just going to race differently.”
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Sonoma: “Sonoma (Raceway) has been a place that has been a pretty big challenge for me in the past. Last season, I felt like it was the best I’ve ever been there. We were pretty good late in the race and I was really proud of that effort by our NAPA team. With having one road course race down with this new car and having some learnings from COTA (Circuit of The Americas), I’m hopeful that we can put together another strong run like we did last year.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on preparing for the second road course race of the season: “Heading into the first road course race of the year at COTA (Circuit of The Americas), we didn’t really know what to expect. There are so many new things with this car, so many unknowns. We didn’t really get the chance to test on a road course before the season started. Chase (Elliott) had the opportunity to drive the car at Charlotte (ROVAL), but we weren’t there because we were in the middle of the playoffs. So, it was a steep learning curve for our team at COTA and I think going through that experience was good. It certainly helped us moving forward. We’ve still got to learn some things, but now I think can start working our way down the list of unknowns that we need to figure out. Hopefully, we have a better run than we did in COTA and be able to go off that for the remainder of the road courses this season.”
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on how to approach this Sunday’s race at Sonoma: “I think Sonoma (Raceway) is the most different of the road courses that we race on. I feel like you have to focus more on your corner entry and exits to really be able to roll through them and get a good run off. There’s not many true braking zones, so it’s more about keeping as much speed as possible and setting yourself up for the next corner constantly. I feel like that changes what you want from the handling of your car as well. We’ve had good runs going there the last couple races, we just haven’t had the finishes to match it. We also have had to approach this race differently in the past strategy-wise and focus more on capturing as many points as possible. Coming into this race with 13 playoff points already, I think we’re in a better position to utilize a different strategy this time around.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his thoughts for Sonoma: “This is only my second time going to Sonoma (Raceway) and it will be my first with this configuration. I think we had a solid race going last year before being caught up in a late race incident and we have a good notebook to lean off of from the No. 5 car’s win. Obviously, there will still be some unknowns for this weekend, especially with this being only the second road course race with the Next Gen car. We were able to test two weeks ago at Watkins Glen (International) for the Goodyear tire test and I think we learned a lot that we can apply for Sonoma. Right now, it’s going to be all about building our notebook for this style of racing seeing as four of the next 10 races are road courses.”
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing twice in Sonoma: “I think it’s important to get as many laps as I can in before getting in the No. 48 Ally Chevy on Sunday. Last time we ran the No. 7 Spire truck, we had a ton of speed and I think it helped me learn the track which helped me be fast in the Cup race. Obviously, it didn’t end the way I wished, but ultimately, the experience can only make me better.”
Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his expectations for the race at Sonoma: “We had a ton of speed at COTA (Circuit of The Americas) and got collected in someone else’s mess which cost us a win. I think it’s great that Alex (Bowman) is going to get back in the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Spire truck to get more road course experience – it served him well last time. We learned a lot at COTA and Alex gained some confidence in his ability to run well on road courses, so I am optimistic for the race and look forward to getting out to Sonoma (Raceway) and redeeming ourselves on a road course.”
