NASCAR Cup PR

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.

William Byron on the carousel at Sonoma: “I haven’t experienced the carousel at Sonoma before. I think it’s going to be different for all of us this weekend. We were talking about that last week in the shop, there’s going to be a lot of differences such as the gearing ratio that we’ll use now. It’s going to create a new challenge for all of us, which I feel like evens the playing field some.”

"I've been looking forward to heading to Sonoma for a while, and getting back to my road course racing roots. I cut my teeth racing at Sonoma and it's a place where you are really in control of your own destiny, especially if you have the speed."

50 Years in Wine Country ... Both Richard Childress Racing and Sonoma Raceway are celebrating their 50th anniversaries in 2019. In 71 starts at the 10-turn stadium course, Richard Childress Racing owns a storied history with two wins (with Dale Earnhardt in 1995 and with Robby Gordon in 2003), one pole award (Earnhardt, 1995), 14 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes. The Welcome, N.C.,-based team has led 140 laps at Sonoma Raceway, completed 7,443 of the 7,490 laps contested (99.4 percent) and has recorded just one DNF since the Cup Series made it's debut at the track in 1989.

The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang will run a special paint scheme for the "Toyota/Save Mart 350" Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway this weekend in honor of Darrell Waltrip's retirement, David Ragan announced on NASCAR Race Hub on FS1 today.

DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Sonoma Raceway, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 30.0 and an average finish of 25.0.  He’s completed 439 of 440 (99.8 percent) career laps at the Sonoma, California road course.  The series will return to the original 12-turn course for the first time since 1997 with no current MENCS driver having driven this configuration.

Stenhouse Jr. has six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Sonoma Raceway with an average starting position of 28.0 and average finishing position of 26.7.

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race in Sonoma will mark the end of an era in the sport, with legendary driver/announcer Darrell Waltrip hanging up his microphone after 19 years in the TV booth. In honor of Waltrip’s last call, Roush Fenway Racing and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will pay homage to the former driver and Hall of Famer with a special chrome numbered paint scheme on the No. 17 Ford Mustang.

Newman will make his 18th start at Sonoma Raceway this weekend, which is tied for second among all active Cup drivers (Jimmie Johnson & Kurt Busch – 19th). In 17 events at the 2.52-mile, 12-turn road course, Newman has an average finishing position of 13.2.