NASCAR Cup PR

Did you ever doubt that NASCAR would ever disqualify someone? Does that send a message to the garage? “I really never thought about it. If they are going to take a win away, it’s pretty big. Yeah, they said they were going to do it and they did it. I am not surprised.”

“It’s pretty fun. It’s a cool course. I like it, and we have a lot of the same old characteristics of Sonoma where you fight forward drive and grip. That’s what we love. The carousel is cool. It’s going to be an important corner. It’s going to be where you are going to need to pass going into turn seven. It’s a different corner for us now, but it’s going to be one of our main passing zones. It could be a pretty critical corner.”

“I didn’t even get a chance to look at it before I spun out. I got out and went up Turn 3 and thought man, these tires are cold and I spun out. So now, that is now the top of the board for the most embarrassing moment because we were just cruising around. We were just kind of cruising. Putting stuff together and the next thing you know, I was looking at the dirt. And I was like all right. Here we go. We got it out of the way.

“I feel like we’re OK. I think we need some better direction change in 7 a little bit, but we are getting there. First laps on the track were fast, which is nice. We just have to continue to improve. An hour and twenty minutes of practice is good to have because we don’t normally have that; it’s such a thrash. We have the chance to make some detailed changes.”

PAUL MENARD, No. 21 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang -- “It is a video game, so you have no consequences obviously. It gives you some sight-lines and gearing is probably the biggest thing. I feel like where I shifted in the iRacing thing was fairly close.”

Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters team, like all the others on the Monster Energy Cup Series, have been thrown for a loop, so to speak, for this weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway.

International Speedway Corporation (“ISC”) announced today its Proud Partner status with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (Vet Tix), an organization providing event tickets through its Tickets for Troops program to all branches of currently serving military and veterans, including immediate family of troops killed in action. ISC’s Proud Partner designation spans across its 12 motorsports entertainment facilities throughout the U.S. that host NASCAR events.

Chevrolet drivers Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, and Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, will be considered favorites to win at Sonoma Raceway. In 14 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races each on the road course since 2005, Busch and Johnson are at the top of the MENCS chart of active drivers with an average finish of 11.0 (Busch has an average starting position of 9.4 and Johnson 13.6). Johnson won at the track in 2010 in his Chevrolet and Busch won the next year.

Roush Fenway Racing makes the long trek West this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) converges on Sonoma Raceway for the first of two road course races this summer. RFR has three wins at the Napa Valley track, including two in the Cup series (1997, 2014).

Toyota and Sonoma… For the 13th consecutive season, Toyota has supported the Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway: the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Toyota began the entitlement sponsorship of the race in its debut Cup season of 2007, and the partnership has continued to flourish.