Spire Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series Sonoma Race Advance

• In 13 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-five and seven top-20 finishes. Michael McDowell owns the team’s best result, a forth-place effort, earned in last year’s annual visit to the popular northern California road course. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the Cup Series with Daniel Suarez, McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
• The NASCAR Cup Series race from Sonoma Raceway will be televised live on TNT Sunday, June 28 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and will mark the halfway point of the season. The 18th of 36 points-paying races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series calendar will also be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Daniel Suárez – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Suárez will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.
• Freeway Insurance was established in 1987 and is one of the largest and fastest-growing personal lines insurance brokers in the United States, offering coverage through a “click, call, or come in” approach that connects customers nationwide. The company continually researches, grows, and diversifies its product offerings to stay responsive to the evolving insurance market. Freeway provides a wide range of options – from basic to premium coverage – in auto, truck, commercial vehicle, homeowners, renters, small business, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, fire, and flood insurance. In 2008, Freeway Insurance became part of Confie, the nation’s leading personal lines insurance distribution company. Customers can access Freeway Insurance through neighborhood offices, online at www.freeway.com, or by calling (800) 300-0227.
• As the 2026 season approaches the halfway mark this weekend, the 34-year-old driver sits eighth in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings with 478 points. Over the last five weeks, Suárez has outscored nearly the entire field, posting the third-most points in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Suárez captured his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Sonoma Raceway in 2022, in his 195th start, to become the first Mexican-born driver to win a race in NASCAR’s premier division. He led 47 of 110 laps, to capture the checkered flag by a nearly four-second margin of victory.
• Suárez earned his best road-course start of the season last weekend at Naval Base Coronado, where he qualified sixth. He collected four stage points in Stage 2 and went on to finish 13th in the Anduril 250 to record his 10th top-15 finish of the year.
• Suárez owns 43 starts combined on roadcourses and street circuits where he’s recorded one win, six top fives, four top 10s and led a total of 85 laps. Over the past decade, across both configurations, he has posted a 12.25 average start and a 21.05 average finish.
• Sonoma marks the fourth and final non-oval events on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. The Monterrey, Mexico native opened the road course stretch with a 25th-place finish at Circuit of the Americas and went on to finish 13th at both Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and Naval Base Coronado.
• In NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition, Suárez won at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, on June 14, 2025, coming from the tail of the field in a back-up car to earn a dramatic home-country victory.
• The 2026 Coca-Cola 600 race winner is a veteran of 340 Cup Series starts and has notched three wins, 26 top fives and 80 top-10s in NASCAR’s premier division. Suárez has led 935 laps and earned three poles since making his series debut in 2017.

Daniel Suárez Quotes
When you think back to the moment you won at Sonoma, what does it mean to you?
“Sonoma is always special to me. It’s one of those road courses where you really have to earn everything you get. Nothing comes easy. When I first came into NASCAR, tracks like this were a big challenge, but over time I’ve learned how to be more patient and how to manage the race better. Every time I come back, I think about the journey – coming from Mexico, learning these tracks, and now competing and trying to win at this level. That means a lot to me.

How did your 2022 win at Sonoma Raceway change the way you think about strategy and patience on road courses?
“Sonoma is one of those places where you have to stay disciplined all day long. You’ve got to take care of your tires, be smooth, and make the most of every lap. Strategy is always important, so communication with the team makes a big difference. We’ve had some ups and downs at Sonoma over the years, but every time we come back, we learn something. Hopefully, we can put together a solid race, execute when it matters most, and be there at the end.”

Ryan Sparks – Crew Chief, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Ryan Sparks is the Crew Chief of Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Last week in San Diego at Naval Base Coronado, Sparks guided Suárez to his 10th top-15 finish of the season. Dating back to 2020, the veteran crew chief has called 33 road and street races. His best finish came in 2024 when he led former driver Corey LaJoie to an eighth-place showing at Wakins Glen (N.Y.) International.
• Sparks has called 219 NASCAR Cup Series races since making his crew chief debut in 2020 and has recorded one victory, six top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. Sparks called his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at this year’s the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
• Sparks joined Spire Motorsports in 2021, where he served as both Crew Chief and Competition Director, leading the organization’s competitive and technical efforts. In 2026, Sparks serves in a singular role as crew chief for Daniel Suárez. He brings more than a decade of experience across all three national series, highlighted by 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing and contributions to title-winning campaigns in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (2011) and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (2013).

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.
• Delaware Life is a life insurance and annuity company that empowers financial professionals with a wide array of customizable solutions. A subsidiary of Group 1001 Insurance, Delaware Life was born out of the advisor industry and understands how important it is to find the right fit for every client, every situation, and every individual need. Delaware Life is passionate about equipping its clients with annuities that give customers peace of mind and a successful future, allowing them to plan with confidence for whatever’s next.
• McDowell owns 13 starts at the 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course, where he’s earned three top-five and four top-10 finishes in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
• Over his last four starts at the famed northern California roadcourse, the 19-season Cup Series veteran has posted an average starting position of 9.75 and a stellar fourth-place average finish. Across that same stretch, McDowell has three top fives, including a 2024 runner-up effort, and hasn’t finished worse than seventh. His average finish marks the best average in the Series over the last four seasons.
• Before making the move to the Charlotte, N.C., area, McDowell spent a portion of his young career in Sonoma and Northern California building his resume working in local race shops outside of Sonoma Raceway.
• Cole Markle, tire specialist and engineer for Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 team, is a former Golden State resident. Markle spent his childhood four hours south of Sonoma Raceway in Hanford, Calif., and returns to Sonoma looking for a win in his home state.
• The 2021 Daytona 500 Champion will have a familiar voice on the spotter stand this week where McDowell’s cousin, Jason Noll, will assist primary spotter Michael Fisher during the Cup Series’ second leg of the west coast swing.
• Last weekend at Naval Base Coronado, McDowell qualified ninth and finished 10th to notch his fourth top-10 of the season.
• McDowell has 56 combined Cup Series road and street course starts over his career where he’s logged one win, nine top-five and 19 top-10 finishes. He owns a 16.7 average start paired with a 19.1 average finish, a career-best at any track configuration for drivers with a minimum of 50 attempts.
• In his four most recent starts on street courses, the 41-year-old has tallied an average starting position of fifth paired with an average finish of 13.5, on the strength of one top-five and three top-10 finishes.
• McDowell collected the 2016 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Road America, where he led 24 of 48 laps, before collecting the checkers in his lone start behind the wheel of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 2 Chevrolet.
• Sonoma marks the start of NASCAR’s second annual In-Season Challenge, where McDowell will be matched against Bubba Wallace.
• After 17 points-paying races on the 2026 calendar, McDowell currently sits 21st in the Cup Series standings. With nine races remaining before “The Chase”, McDowell sits just 34 points below the cutline on the strength of two top-five and four top-10 finishes.
• Across his last six points-paying races, the 19-year Cup Series regular holds an average finish of 14th, while pacing the field two times for eight laps (Watkins Glen/Charlotte)

Michael McDowell Quote
What are the keys to getting around Sonoma?
“Sonoma is a lot of fun. It’s one of those tracks where I have a lot of seat time. I spent a lot of time there before moving to North Carolina. Before going NASCAR racing, my wife and I actually lived not too far from there for a season of life. When I was young and coming up through formula cars, I worked outside of Turn 11. For me, the track is super straightforward. It’s one line, there’s not a lot of tricks, you have to manage your tires and be technical to be fast. So, I enjoy it, and it’s been good for us across the last couple of years. I think we finished second and third the last few years and picked up a top-five finish last year. I think we are close. So, it’s just a place that I am comfortable with, which is great after San Diego, where there were a lot of unknowns. I know my marks, I know my rhythm, and it all comes together well. I do think it’s still one of the tracks if you save your tires, it will pay off. At Watkins Glen now, every lap is like qualifying, just hammering down, which is fun, too. Sonoma is its own fun where you still have that technical aspect of managing everything pretty well to have a shot at the end.”

Travis Peterson – Crew Chief, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Travis Peterson is the crew chief for Michael McDowell and Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Peterson has called three Cup Series races for McDowell at Sonoma Raceway, where the potent duo has combined for a solid 10.0 starting average and an even-more-impressive 4.3 average finish.
• In addition to calling McDowell’s second-place finish in 2024, Peterson played a key role in Chris Buescher’s 2022 runner-up effort while serving as a race engineer for RFK Racing.
• The Wisconsin native has earned nine Cup Series top fives, eight of which have come on roadcourses.
• Peterson called McDowell’s win in the 2023 Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on the roadcourse at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Carson Hocevar will race Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Classic Collision Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s 110-lap race at Sonoma Raceway, his third start at the 1.99-mile racecourse in NASCAR’s premier division.
• Classic Collision, founded in 1983 in Atlanta, Ga., is built on a foundation of quality, integrity, and honesty. With a skilled team and unwavering standards, Classic Collision delivers exceptional service to its customers and partners. As one of the largest privately held auto body repair providers in the U.S., Classic Collision operates 350 state-of-the-art facilities nationwide. For over 40 years, safety has been our top priority. Our highly trained technicians, cutting-edge equipment, and manufacturer certifications make us a leader in collision repair.
• Drifter, a feature film set to release later this year, will be featured on the tail and decklid of Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevy this weekend. Written, directed and starring Sung Kang, Drifter is a high-octane underdog story that follows a lonely racetrack janitor whose hidden gift for drifting catapults him into the adrenaline-fueled world of professional motorsports. As the stakes rise on and off the track, he must outrun his past, embrace an unlikely family and risk everything for a shot at redemption and glory.
• Hocevar will face Zane Smith in the opening round of this year’s In-Season Challenge. He’s outperformed Smith in 11 races this season, as well as 54 of the 90 Cup Series races where the former teammates competed head-to-head.
• Through 17 races, the Portage, Mich., native sits ninth in points, just one marker out of eighth. His one win, four top fives, seven top 10s, 476 points scored, average starting position of 11.3 and 14.8 average finish are all career highs through the first 17 points-paying races of the season. The team’s average starting position has improved by seven spots while its average finish is nearly eight positions better compared to this point in 2025.
• Hocevar has made two Cup Series starts at Sonoma, highlighted by a 17th-place finish in 2024.
• Hocevar captured his first and only CRAFTSMAN Truck Series pole position at Sonoma Raceway in his lone appearance at the venue in 2022, just one week removed from sustaining a leg injury at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. He was ultimately relieved during a Lap 11 pit stop by current Spire Motorsports teammate Daniel Suárez. Despite falling a lap down due to the driver swap, Suárez drove the truck to a sixth-place finish, which was ultimately credited to Hocevar in the history books.
• Last Sunday on the streets of Naval Base Coronado, the 23-year-old driver earned a career-best qualifying effort on a road course with a second-place showing. Hocevar maintained his footing in the top-10 most of the afternoon and led twice for four laps. With 12 laps remaining, Hocevar was turned by a fellow competitor while racing for the lead, leaving him with a disappointing 19th-place finish.
• The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year registered his first-career victory earlier this season at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. He survived a late-race restart with three laps remaining with help from his Chevrolet teammates and brought home the checkered flag. Hocevar became the 13th driver to earn his inaugural series victory at Talladega, and registered Spire Motorsports’ first win since the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway with driver Justin Haley.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
While you didn’t get the finish you were hoping for last week, you put together, arguably, the strongest road course performance of your career. How do you build off that momentum heading into Sonoma?
“I am excited. I probably wasn’t super excited heading into San Diego from a performance standpoint. I was looking forward to the event and everything around it, but we were a straight-up contender throughout the weekend. Going to Sonoma, I have two great teammates to lean on. Michael (McDowell) really loves that place and is arguably one of his best tracks and Daniel (Suarez) has won there. So, I have some good data points with them, a good idea for the car, and a good setup. We had a really fast car last weekend, and I know our team will have a fast Classic Collision Chevy this week. It makes me excited that we can run strong there.”

Luke Lambert – Crew Chief, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Luke Lambert is the crew chief of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Lambert is in his third season at Spire Motorsports and fourth with driver Carson Hocevar. The duo has logged two pole awards, one win, seven top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in 97 races.
• In 10 NASCAR Cup Series events at Sonoma Raceway, the Mount Airy, N.C., native earned a venue-best eighth-place finish in 2016 with driver Ryan Newman.
• The 16-year veteran crew chief has called 45 Cup Series road and street course races, earning a best finish of third at Watkins Glen with Hocevar in 2024.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado its first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent victory came May 24, 2026, when Daniel Suárez won the NASCAR Cup Series Series’ Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

In 2026, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization also fields the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.