NASCAR Cup Series

CALIFORNIA CRUSIN’: As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) heads out West, the 2018 Camry will make its road course race debut at this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. has already given the new 2018 Camry race car two Cup wins this season (Las Vegas and Kansas). At Sonoma, Camry drivers have made four trips to victory lane in 10 races since 2007. Kyle Busch claimed Toyota’s first MENCS road course win in 2008 at Sonoma and he won again at the track in 2015 – his first victory on the road to his championship-winning season. Former Toyota driver Clint Bowyer finished first in 2012 while Truex claimed the 2013 Sonoma victory in a Camry.

Michael McDowell will be returning to his roots at Sonoma Raceway for the first road course race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cups Series (MENCS) season.

The NASCAR Cup Series rookie driver has never driven a lap on the 10-turn, 1.99-mile Sonoma Raceway road course nor driven a lap in a Cup car on a road course. So last Tuesday the driver of the No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota did the next best thing by spending most of the morning on a race simulator to gain some experience that he believes will pay big dividends over the weekend.

"I love road course racing," Buescher said. "I have a blast doing it. I got one of my wins at Mid-Ohio (Sports Car Course) in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, so road course racing is something I'm fairly comfortable with, and I know Sonoma (Raceway) is fairly similar to Mid-Ohio. I've only had one other start at Sonoma, but having the experience of my teammate AJ (Allmendinger) to lean on and learn things from, I think, is going to be a huge help this year."

“We’ve had great race cars at the road courses the last few years, which has helped me a lot. Sonoma is the most challenging track that I race at. We’ve just got to take care of our car and make it through to the end.” Dale Earnhardt Jr. on racing at Sonoma

As part of its throwback weekend, celebrating the 1985-89 era of the sport, Darlington Raceway will be honoring Dale Earnhardt Sr. and the 30th anniversary of his 1987 Bojangles’ Southern 500 victory.

Stenhouse Jr. has four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Sonoma Raceway with an average starting position of 32.0 and average finishing position of 26.0. Stenhouse has completed 439 of 440(99.8%) laps in his four previous starts at the 1.99-mile road course.

Trevor Bayne will make his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start at Sonoma this weekend. Bayne earned a best finish of 23rd in the 2015 running of this event.

Martin Truex Jr. has posted an impressive finishing average of 3.8 in the previous five NASCAR Cup Series races. The streak started with a victory in Kansas, followed by third-place finishes in Charlotte and Dover and a pair of sixth-place results in Pocono and Michigan.

The first road course race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled for Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, where Ford has won seven times. Here’s a look at some of those triumphs, along with updated notes heading into the weekend.