If you’re a fan of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, or Martin Truex Jr., it’s been a great NASCAR season so far. Those three have dominated, winning 11 of the 15 races so far. That might change on Sunday, however, at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma Raceway in California — the first of three road tracks on the schedule.
Carved into the hills of wine country, the 1.99-mile layout features 12 turns, in different directions, with elevation changes, as opposed to the usual banked four corners of an oval track.
In the last 13 years, there have been 11 different winners.
“It’s an unbelievable race track,” Truex said. “I love coming out there. I love road-course racing. I look forward to that challenge and to see if we can get our second win here.”
Big 3 Favorites
Despite the wide field of drivers who could sneak through to take the checkered flag on this challenging layout, Harvick, Busch, and Truex Jr. have all won here in the past, and are all 4/1 favorites at Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.
Harvick won last year, and will try to become the first driver to win consecutive races here since Jeff Gordon did it three times, in 1998, ’99, and 2000.
Busch won in 2008 and 2015, and Truex took his turn on victory lane in 2013.
Truex led 25 laps of last year’s race before blowing an engine. He is confident his Toyota will be ready this time.
“We had strong performing road course cars last year,” Truex said. “We had the car to beat at Sonoma. We hit on something and had a ton of speed there.”
Busch is comfortable with the layout and would like to get his third victory there. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that getting the lead is crucial.
“It’s such a technical track, and it’s hard to pass,” Busch said. “The guys that get out front have the cleanest track, they have the most air on the car, and they have the coolest racetrack, too.”
Busch Brother Looks for First Season Win
Kurt Busch has been fighting for a win all season, coming close to victory lane, but falling short. He has three top fives, eight top 10s, and two pole awards this year.
He enters this weekend hoping he can add another Sonoma title to his 2011 win. The Westgate has him listed at 8/1.
“We haven’t won yet, but we’ve been a good contender each week,” Kurt Busch said. “It’s just a matter of finding that right combo with pit strategy, having solid pit stops, and then I have to do my job to gain spots on restarts. We just haven’t had that perfect race to pull off the win yet, but I know it’s right around the corner when you have all the speed in the car.”