After a stop at the Gateway to the West, NASCAR is off to the west coast to turn left AND right through the hills of scenic Sonoma, California.
Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250
Saturday, June 8 @ 8:00PM EST
Sonoma, California
79 Laps/157.21 Miles (~250 Kilometers)
After a solo trip to the Pacific Northwest where Shane van Gisbergen outlasted the Justin Allgaier to grab his first career Xfinity Series win, the Xfinity Series rejoins the Cup Series, still on the the West Coast, in Wine Country. Shane van Gisbergen pulled off a very SVG-esque win after several small occurrences seemed to put him out of contention, but he fought back and survived many late restarts and on the final one, he passed Allgaier for the lead and secured the victory. And then he followed it up with one of the most incredible celebrations you’ll ever see, but I digress.
Most Recent Winner at Sonoma
Aric Almirola took a shock win last Summer in Wine Country, securing the first win for RSS Racing.
Names To Watch
Boris Said: The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Boris Said is back, and he will be, yet again, driving the #17 for Hendrick Motorsports. Said is a veteran of 149 starts across the top 3 series of NASCAR and has put together quite the career as a road course ringer in the sport. The 61-Year Old has 2 wins, one in Montreal in 2010, and he won the Truck Series race at Sonoma all the way back in 1998.
Ed Jones: The UAE-born Brit has only made 3 starts in the NASCAR ranks after 4 seasons in INDYCAR and 7 races in IMSA last year. Jones attempted the Craftsman Truck Series race at Circuit of the Americas in 2023, but had suspension issues. He has made two starts for Sam Hunt Racing this season in the #24 Toyota Supra. Jones especially impressed last weekend in Portland when he survived the chaos and charged to his first career Top-5 in just his 3rd start. He will be piloting the #26 Supra for Sam Hunt Racing this weekend at Sonoma.
My Pick To Win: Parker Kilgerman
Toyota/Save Mart 350
Sunday, June 9 @ 3:30PM EST
Sonoma, California
110 Laps/218.9 Miles (~350 Kilometers)
The NASCAR Cup Series visited St. Louis where Austin Cindric put himself in position to be the beneficiary of some bad luck for the leaders, and bad luck he got as Christopher Bell reported that his engine was letting go with just 10 Laps to go after dominating the race and being in the midst of a hard fight with Ryan Blaney that looked to be for the win. Then, coming to the White Flag, Blaney would suffer his own dose of heartbreak, as he inexplicably ran out of fuel, leaving the path clear for Cindric to take his second career win in shocking fashion. To Cindric’s credit, he was remarkably fast all weekend and was likely the third-fastest car, behind the aforementioned Bell and Blaney, and he drove a great race to put himself in position if the leaders had problems or if a late caution came out.
Most Recent Winner At Sonoma
Martin Truex Jr. took his 4th win at Sonoma last June en route to 3 wins and an 11th place points finish.
Names To Watch
Will Brown: I’m not going to waste my or your time here, we know who we’re gonna be watching this weekend. Starting with current Australian Supercars points leader, and the man who replaced Shane van Gisbergen when he made the move to the States, Will Brown. Brown is a native of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia , also the hometown of 2-Time INDYCAR Champion Will Power, and has 8-Wins down under, but the best is certainly yet to come for the freshly 26-years old Brown. He will be driving the #33 for Richard Childress Racing this weekend.
Cam Waters: We move from the points leader to the man who occupies 4th place in the current Australian Supercars Championship Points Standings. Waters has made 2 Craftsman Truck Series starts this season at Martinsville and Kansas respectively. Unfortunately he crashed out at Martinsville but logged his first Top-20 at Kansas, though it wasn’t without controversy as he and Truck Series regular, Layne Riggs had a tense conversation afterwards. The 29-Year Old is a native of Mildura, Victoria, Australia and is an 11-Time Winner in the Australian Supercars Championship and will be the second driver for RFK Racing’s Stage 60 project, after David Ragan debuted the program in the Daytona 500.
My Pick To Win: Chris Buescher
Header Image Credit: Logan Riely/Getty Images
