The Cup Series rolls on this afternoon as it travels to the wine country of California for the 2025 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. The current configuration of Sonoma is a 12-turn, 1.99 mile layout with plenty of elevation changes (160 feet from the highest point to the lowest point on the track), tight passing zones and tedious technical areas to challenge the sports’ best. Sonoma Raceway opened for racing in 1968 and has been an annual stop for NASCAR since 1989.
Sonoma has always served as one of the challenging tracks on the schedule. With so much elevation change and with a recent repave causing speeds to increase further, taking care of the car and making sure it makes it the distance is vital to success today. 110 laps is a long way to go at a track like Sonoma. Beating and banging will only do you so much at the end of the day. One bad move and a top 10 finish can quickly turn into a 30th place finish. Road course races seem to fall into two categories these days: follow the leader blowouts (see Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez) or demolition derbies (see Chicago Street Race). Sonoma of late has been long green flag runs, so making the right adjustments is more important than ever due to the lack of pit road visits. In this same realm, track position is king. Drivers will have the opportunity to flip the stage by pitting before the end of the stage and staying out while the leaders pit following the end of the stage. Track position vs. stage points is always a hot battle, so expect plenty of strategy, especially with those closest to the playoff cutline. Passing can be done on road courses, but having that track position will go a long way towards making or breaking your day. Finally, just stay patient. It takes time to set up passes, especially with there being just a few really good passing areas on the track. Don’t make a stupid move early and ruin your day. At the end of the day, the fastest cars and the best drivers will eventually find their way to the front.
Today starts round three of the In-Season Challenge, with eight drivers still in the hunt for that million dollar prize. The dust has settled after the first two rounds, with several fan favorites and several huge upsets making it into the homestretch. The following match-ups will take place today: Alex Bowman vs. Ty Dillon; John Hunter Nemechek vs. Erik Jones; Ryan Preece vs. Tyler Reddick; and Ty Gibbs vs. Zane Smith. The winner of these matchups will move on to the Final Four next Sunday at Dover.
The Toyota/Save Mart 350 was first held in 1989 has produced a variety of both A-list and underdog winners through the years. Jeff Gordon has won this race the most times, finding Victory Lane five times, including three straight years from 1998 through 2000. Martin Truex Jr. won this race four times in his career. Tony Stewart was a three time winner at Sonoma, including his final career win in 2016, while Kyle Busch, Ernie Irvan, Kyle Larson, Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace are also multi-time Sonoma winners.
Last year’s edition was won by Kyle Larson, who led 19 laps on the way to his second Sonoma victory. Michael McDowell earned the runner-up position, while Chris Buescher finished in third after winning Stage 2 and leading 32 laps on the day. Chase Elliott finished in fourth after leading three laps, while Ross Chastain rounded out the top five. A. J. Allmendinger finished in sixth after leading three laps, Ryan Blaney led one lap on the way to a seventh place finish, while Tyler Reddick finished in eighth after winning Stage 1 and leading a race-high 35 laps. Kyle Busch led one lap on the way to a 12th place finish, Polesitter Joey Logano finished 21st after leading 16 laps and Martin Truex Jr. finished in 27th place after leading one lap on the day.
Coverage of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 can be seen on TNT, with pre-race coverage beginning at 3 PM EST, and green flag coverage beginning at 3:30 PM EST.
A few things in life are certain: death, taxes and Austin Cindric underperforming in Penske equipment. Yes, he won at Talladega. But superspeedways are more luck than anything else these days. Cindric is always in the mix at drafting tracks, but other than that, expectations are relatively low everywhere else. Cindric has four top 10’s on the season, but his best finish outside of his Talladega victory is a 6th place finish at Las Vegas. Cindric is a respectable 18th in the Driver Standings, but that pales in comparison to teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, both in the top 12 in the standings, and both of whom have combined for the last three Cup Series titles. The road course results have been less than sterling for Cindric in 2025, finishing 18th at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 25th at Circuit Of The Americas and 27th at the Chicago Street Race. Sonoma hasn’t been much kinder to Cindric. Although he finished fifth at Sonoma in 2022, Cindric finished 25th in 2023 and 22nd in 2024, with no laps led in any of his three starts. Cindric was 20th fastest in Practice and qualified in 24th for this afternoon’s race. Lock in another finish for Cindric outside the top 20 at Sonoma.
A perennial dark horse when it comes to road course racing, Chris Buescher has been struggling to break out of the pack in 2025, posting three top 5’s and 10 top 10 finishes to sit in 11th in the Driver Standings, but 15th in the Playoff Standings, only 35 points to the good over the cutline. Buescher has quickly become a playoff bubble boy the last few seasons, but the summer and road courses is where Buescher seems to hit his stride. A winner at Watkins Glen last fall (where he took it to the man in SVG and passed him on the last lap for the victory), Buescher is heating up in the summer months, posting a pair of top 5’s, four top 10’s and no finishes outside the top 20 in his last six starts, including a season-best finish of second at Michigan. Seemingly a front runner on most road courses, Buescher has been a step off the pace this season, finishing in the top 10 in two of the three road course races held so far, but only mustering a best finish of 7th at Circuit Of The Americas. Luckily for Buescher, Sonoma is arguably his best road course on the schedule, finishing in the top four here each of the last three years, including leading 32 laps on the way to a third place finish last year. Buescher had some pace in Practice, but rolls out from 14th position this afternoon. A win is definitely possible with the right strategy, but another top 10 finish is a lock this afternoon for Buescher.
The road course king for so long, A. J. Allmendinger has taken a back seat in recent years since Shane Van Gisbergen arrived on the scene. In spite of that, Allmendinger still has plenty left in the tank, posting one top five, five top 10’s and eight top 15 finishes while driving the #16 for Kaulig Racing this season. The Dinger has also shown some of that road course prowess of late, finishing 6th last weekend at the Chicago Street Race and 13th at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Allmendinger has never won at Sonoma, but has posted some good finishes in his career, picking up four top 10’s, eight top 20’s and leading 68 laps across 13 starts, including posting 6th place finishes here each of the last two years. Allmendinger has certainly flashed signs of his past successes early on this weekend, laying down the fastest lap in all of Practice and pacing the field on 5 Lap Averages. Allmendinger starts today’s race from the fifth position and is looking to disrupt the playoffs even more, as he sits just 43 points below the cutline with just seven races remaining. Expect Allmendinger to be in the hunt all race long on the way to a third straight top 10 finish at Sonoma.
Winner:
It went so well for us last week that we’re running it back again this week. Shane van Gisbergen. That’s it. That’s the whole post. Why would you ever bet against this man on a road course? Yes, he can be beat, but you need to really have your A-game if you want even a glimmer of hope. van Gisbergen is far and away the favorite on road courses. He started and finished 6th at Circuit Of The Americas. He started on the Pole at both Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and at the Chicago Street Race and went on to win both of those races. Sure, he’s not the best on the ovals. That will come with time and experience. SVG was brought here to win road courses, and he’s doing exactly that. Sorry if you hate road course ringers. Sucks to suck. But watching this man put on a driving clinic is incredible to watch. This weekend is shaping up to once again be a dominant one for van Gisbergen, who laid down the third fastest lap of Practice, paced the field on 10 and 15 Lap Averages and ultimately won the Pole by 0.250 seconds over Chase Briscoe. SVG finished second in yesterday’s Xfinity Series race after trading knockout blows with teammate Connor Zilisch, who went on to win. I predict he will do one spot better today and pick up his third straight road course victory in the Cup Series by winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350!
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