Kevin Harvick played the pit strategy game correctly and made a pass for the lead in the closing laps to win for the first time in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Despite a botched entry into the final turn, Kyle Larson won the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 after posting the fastest time in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Sonoma Raceway.
With the 2017 season nearing the halfway mark and Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring at the end of it, the retirement gifts for NASCAR's favorite driver will come in greater frequency if past history is any indicator.
Jeff Gordon leads the series with five victories at the road course, including three consecutively, from 1998 – 2000. Tony Stewart has three trophies but did you know he captured the final win of his Cup career last year at Sonoma, ending an 84-race winless drought?
It is ironic that the two tracks that feature folks turning to the right are in California and New York, where you would think left would be the preferred direction. Sonoma is the perfect venue to feature our hot drivers, with temperatures this week in the 90s, though promises to be in the low 80s come Sunday. It a facility well used, with 340 days of racing events featured annually.
The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series travels to Sonoma Raceway this weekend while the XFINITY Series and the Camping World Truck Series head to Iowa Speedway.
Popular. Iconic. A “must be in” race. If that is what you were looking for, you were disappointed. A 37-car field was the smallest in 21 years. Tight, pack racing, the kind that leaves you swooning each and every lap. If that is what you were looking for, sorry, Sonoma is coming up next weekend. No, this week it was Michigan.
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Viva Towels Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT IS THE EMOTION FOR YOU RIGHT NOW, BEING ONE SPOT OUT OF CLINCHING A FRONT ROW SPOT BUT STILL QUALIFYING THIRD OVERALL?
The two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, clocked in a pole-winning lap at 183.651 mph in 49.006 seconds to become the 47th competitor to achieve the pole position for the Great American Race.
