The Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway Outlook

The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to Sonoma Raceway, a 1.99-mile NASCAR configuration, multi-elevational paved road course, and drag strip located just outside of Sonoma, California.

Joey Logano won last season’s pole on June 8, 2024, with a lap of 97.771 mph (73.273 secs), and Kyle Larson executed a late pit strategy for a wild Cup victory. Larson led twice for 19 laps in an event where he dodged a series of on-track carnages within the first two stage periods. Larson was able to pace his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around Sonoma’s 12-turn circuit for the final eight laps for his second win at his home track.

Toyota / Save Mart 350

Track & Race Information for the Toyota / Save Mart 350

Purse: $11,055,250
Track Size: 1.99 miles
Number of Turns: 12
Track: Multi-Elevational Paved Road Course
Race Length: 110 laps / 218.9 miles

Time

July 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Stages

  • Stage 1 Length: 25 laps
  • Stage 2 Length: 30 laps (ends on Lap 55)
  • Final Stage Length: 55 laps (ends on Lap 110)

Who and what should you look out for at Sonoma Raceway?

The top 10 average starting positions at Sonoma for active drivers:

PosActive DriverAverage Start# Races
1Kyle Larson3.810
2Tyler Reddick4.754
3Chase Elliott6.1258
4Ty Gibbs82
5Daniel Suárez10.2867
6William Byron10.8336
7AJ Allmendinger10.92313
8Joey Logano10.93315
9Ryan Blaney148
10Kyle Busch14.05319

Seven of the last eight NASCAR Cup Series races have been from a top-10 starting position at Sonoma.

DateRace WinnerPole Winner
06/09/2024Kyle LarsonJoey Logano
06/11/2023Martin Truex Jr.Denny Hamlin
06/12/2022Daniel SuarezKyle Larson
06/06/2021Kyle LarsonKyle Larson
06/23/2019Martin Truex Jr.Kyle Larson
06/24/2018Martin Truex Jr.Kyle Larson
06/25/2017Kevin HarvickKyle Larson
06/26/2016Tony StewartCarl Edwards
06/28/2015Kyle BuschA.J. Allmendinger
06/22/2014Carl EdwardsJamie McMurray
  • Kyle Larson leads the NCS in average starting position at Sonoma with a 3.8 in 10 starts. Larson also has four poles, two wins, two top fives, four top 10s, and the fifth-best average finish of 13.0. With the four poles (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), Larson leads all active NCS drivers in poles at Sonoma.
  • Kyle Busch (2008, 2015) and Kyle Larson (2021, 2024) lead all active drivers in wins at Sonoma in the NCS with two victories each. Busch, Larson, and Daniel Suárez (2022) are the only three active winners at Sonoma. The deepest in the field that an active race winner has started to win the race is 30th, which was by Busch in 2008.
  • Chase Elliott has four top fives, six top 10s, and an average finish of 11.125.
  • Ross Chastain has one top five, four top 10s, and an average finish of 12.400.
  • Chris Buescher has three top fives, three top 10s, and an average finish of 12.750.
  • Joey Logano has two poles, four top fives, six top 10s, and an average finish of 13.467.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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