The NASCAR Cup Series will be at Northern California’s Wine Country region this Sunday to race at the road course in Sonoma. Freshly paved after 23 long years, the raceway is expected to be an intimidating yet fun challenge for drivers. Perhaps for some more so than others. To lead, Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. will be at their most comfortable selves.
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When it comes to road course racing, there are few as skilled as Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsports superstar has a staggering seven victories on the track. Amongst his successful avenues have been Watkins Glen International, Circuit of the Americas, and the Charlotte Roval. Starkly missing from the list is the Sonoma Raceway. He will hope to fill that void and find the victory lane on Sunday.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex Jr. is the second most successful driver on the track. He has conquered it four times and can match Jeff Gordon’s five wins on Sunday. Apart from his Sonoma tale, he has one other road course victory which came at Watkins Glen back in 2017. He has the second most wins in road courses among active drivers.
Both Elliott and Truex Jr. are among the favorites to emerge as the victors in the upcoming fixture. While the former hasn’t won at Sonoma yet, he does hold an impressive track record of five top-10s in seven appearances. Coach Gibbs’ man, on the other hand, is the defending winner and has the highest odds of collecting maximum points.
Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson are poised to put up a tough fight on Sunday
With four wins each, Busch and Larson too have been highly successful on road courses. Larson has a slight edge over Rowdy with his victories being more recent. He won at Watkins Glen, the Charlotte Roval, and the Sonoma Raceway in 2021 en route to his Cup Series championship. He won at Watkins Glen once again in 2022.
Busch is a two-time winner at Sonoma (2008 and 2015) and at Watkins Glen (2008 and 2013). He is yet to fix his spot in the 2024 playoffs and stands a lot to gain on Sunday. He will hope to conjure some of the magic from times past to get the win and rid himself of worry for the rest of the regular season.
