The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the West Coast for the Toyota Save Mart 350, the first of two road-course races on the Cup schedule. Tony Stewart won for the third time here in 2016, his final season as a Cup driver, but Jeff Gordon’s five wins still leads the way at Sonoma. As far as active drivers go, Kyle Busch leads the way with two wins at Sonoma.
Details
Event: Toyota Save Mart 350
Category: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Date: Sunday June 18th – 3:00 PM ET
Location: Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, CA
Kyle Larson picked up his second win of the season at Michigan last week in the FireKeepers Casino 400, winning from the pole and leading a race-high 96 laps. However, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but Larson held off Chase Elliott late in the race, followed by Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray. Larson leads the point standings ahead of Martin Truex Jr., who also has two wins, then there is Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Elliott in the standings, but they don’t have any wins. Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with three wins.
Past Five Winners
2016: Tony Stewart
2015: Kyle Busch
2014: Carl Edwards
2013: Martin Truex Jr.
2012: Clint Bowyer
The Field
Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson have been battling for the top spot in the standings all season long and they’ve once again flip-flopped. Larson is back in the lead with 640 points but he’s only five up on Truex Jr. Even so, it’s Truex Jr. who is the favorite for this week’s race. Larson isn’t even in the Top 5, if you can believe that, as he is eighth overall in terms of the odds. Kyle Busch is actually in second place in terms of the betting lines this week, which is a bit of a surprise as he has yet to win a single race this season. Right behind him is Jimmie Johnson, which is not a big surprise. Johnson is actually eighth in the standings but is the driver with the most wins on the season. He has three wins so far. Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch round out the Top 5.
What To Know About The Track
Sonoma Raceway was also known as Sears Point Raceway and Infineon Raceway, and it broke ground in 1967 and opened officially in 1968. The first Cup race was held here in 1989 and is a favorite for the fans that get to see Cup drivers out of their element, but the Cup drivers have improved so much at Sonoma that there aren’t many teams that used a road-course “ringer” (one that specializes in road courses) in 2016. There are plenty of places for trouble on this course that is 1.99 mile (3.2 km long) and has 10 turns, but after the field goes uphill to Turn 1, things bunch up very quickly. Also at the end of the course, there is a tight hairpin that can cause some problems.
Top-Five Pick: Jimmie Johnson
Johnson’s finishing average of 12.5 in 15 starts is third behind Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman, and you should take the seven-time Cup champion anytime you can. He finished 13th at Sonoma last year and he has four top-fives overall at this course, a place where people don’t give him enough credit for how good he really is. Johnson has actually been in a bit of a rut lately; since back-to-back wins at Bristol and Texas, he has finished outside of the top 10 in five of eight races, although he also won at Dover in that time. You could attribute some of that to his team trying new things out with their spot in the Chase basically solidified, but Johnson knows that he has to get some momentum going into the summer and Sonoma is as good a place as any to get the ball rolling.
Odds To Win Toyota Save Mart 350
Martin Truex Jr +500
Kyle Busch +600
Jimmie Johnson +700
Kevin Harvick +800
Kurt Busch +800
AJ Allmendinger +800
Clint Bowyer +800
Kyle Larson +1200
Denny Hamlin +1200
Joey Logano +2000
Jamie McMurray +2500
Brad Keselowski +2500
Chase Elliott +3000
Dale Earnhardt Jr +4000
Kasey Kahne +4000
Ryan Newman +5000
Billy Johnson +6000
Ryan Blaney +6000
Paul Menard +6000
Matt Kenseth +7500
Daniel Suarez +7500
Erik Jones +7500
Austin Dillon +10000
Field +2000
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