In The Know – SONOMA
The race in Sonoma this weekend will mark the second of six road-course races on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Get up-to-speed on race info, driver stats, our weekly wraps and more below as we tackle the winding road in wine country.
The Details
NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event: Save Mart 350k (Round 16 of 36)
● Time/Date: 4 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 12
● Location: Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course
● Laps/Miles: 110 laps/218.9 miles (352.3 kilometers)
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 25 laps / Stage 2: 30 laps / Final Stage: 55 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
THE BROADCAST
The boss is in the booth for Sonoma! Be sure to catch all the action Sunday on FS1.
SHR FAST FACTS
Kevin Harvick:
Harvick is one of six NASCAR Cup Series drivers competing in the Save Mart 350k who hail from California. The driver of the No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang is from Bakersfield, and the native Californians joining him on the grid at Sonoma include his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer (Ladera Ranch), reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson (Elk Grove), two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick (Corning), AJ Allmendinger (Los Gatos) and Joey Hand (Sacramento).
When Harvick scored his first road-course victory at Watkins Glen in 2006, he had to beat his current team owner to do it. Tony Stewart – the “Stewart” in Stewart-Haas Racing – had won the past two NASCAR Cup Series races at the 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course and was poised to capture a third straight win as he was leading Harvick with four laps to go in the 90-lap race. But Harvick, who had already led once for 24 laps, passed Stewart on lap 87 as the two drag-raced down the frontstretch and into turn one. Harvick held onto the lead despite Stewart in his rearview mirror, earning a margin of victory of .892 of a second.
Aric Almirola:
After 15 races this season, Almirola is the only driver in the NASCAR Cup Series without a DNF (Did Not Finish). He has completed all but five laps of the 4,240 run this year – a 99.9 percent completion rate.
History at Sonoma Raceway: In nine starts at Sonoma, Almirola has two top-10 finishes, and he finished on the lead lap in all but one of those nine starts. The 38-year-old earned his two top-10 finishes in his first two starts at Stewart-Haas Racing.
Last weekend at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois, near St. Louis, Almirola ran inside the top-10 for the majority of the race, earned 11 stage points, and crossed the finish line fifth to earn his second top-five and fifth top-10 of the season.
Chase Briscoe:
Briscoe has one start at the 1.99-mile, 10-turn Sonoma road course. He started 25th and finished 17th last season. In eight Cup Series starts on road courses, Briscoe has three top-10 finishes and was just shy of earning his career first Cup Series victory on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last summer.
The 27-year-old racer from Mitchell, Indiana, picked up two Xfinity Series wins on road courses – his first career Xfinity Series victory was in the series’ inaugural race on the Charlotte Roval in 2018. He also fulfilled his childhood dream of kissing the historic Yard of Bricks when he scored his fifth win of the 2020 season on the Indianapolis road course.
Cole Custer:
Sunday’s 90-lap, 350-kilometer race will be Custer’s 91st Cup Series start, his 11th on a road course, and his second on the 2.52-mile, 12-turn Sonoma circuit. The 24-year-old native of Ladera Ranch, California, started 23rd and finished 20th in his Cup Series debut at the track last year. His best previous Cup Series finish on a road course was ninth in the October 2020 race on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval en route to that year’s Rookie of the Year honors.
In his 11 road-course outings in the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2017 through 2019, Custer finished outside the top-10 just once with a best result of fourth in the 2018 race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
OUR WEEKLY WRAPS
We’ve got some sweet, sweet Sonoma schemes. Check out our wine country wraps below.
What Our Drivers are Saying:
Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
The NextGen car seems to have acclimated well to all the tracks, but does it perform best on road courses since the car carries a lot of sports-car DNA?
“It’s definitely leaning more toward handling well at the road courses just because that’s kind of the nature of how it was designed. I think for me, our first road course was a lot more comfortable in the car than what we were last year. For the braking and things that come with this particular car, it’s been good for us on the road courses, so far.”
Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Farmer John Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You’re heading to Sonoma with momentum from your most successful race of the season. How does that translate to a road course this weekend?
“We have had top-10 cars for the last handful of races but just couldn’t catch a break. From a cut tire to an untimely caution, we just haven’t been put in the best positions to finish where we run. To have put a full weekend together with no mistakes led us to a top-five and a good bit of stage points. It’s nice to head to a road course after this because we didn’t put ourselves in a hole. Our road-course program has steadily improved over time so, heading to Sonoma, we’ll try to have another mistake-free day and see where that lands us. We know what we’re capable of and we have to just put it all together and stay out of trouble.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Last year was your first time racing at Sonoma and you were still new to Cup Series racing. How have you evolved as a driver since then and how will it help you this weekend?
“Last year was tough. Sonoma is a super technical track, and the only experience I had there was in the ARCA West race the day before, so I didn’t have a whole lot to use to prepare. I think I’ve become more confident as a driver. Last year, I was trying really hard to learn how to race in the Cup Series while not messing up other drivers and I realized I had to get over that. I learned a lot more by getting up there and racing these guys to see what I could figure out from how they drive certain tracks. This season has been good so far. We got off a little after the Phoenix win, and COTA didn’t really go the way we wanted, but I’m excited to get to another road course and see how it goes. This car is much better on road courses than what we’ve had in the past and I think this is a chance for us to get another really good finish and maybe another win to secure our spot in the playoffs a little more than it is now.”
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 AutoDesk/HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Are there any things you can apply to this weekend that you learned during your previous visits to Sonoma?
“Like I said, it’s just such a technical racetrack and it’s definitely nice to have some laps around there. There’s so much (tire) fall-off and so much you have to do to try and make it around those slick corners. It’s not an easy place to get around, so having those laps definitely help, but I’m sure in the NextGen car it’s going to be a little bit different trying to figure out how you’re going to make your way through those corners and be patient. It’s going to be a lot of learning pretty fast.”
GEN-Z TERMS: SUS
Kevin Harvick, Cole Custer, Aric Almirola , Riley Herbst, and our pit crew try to decode the meaning of yet another Gen-Z term: Sus. Do you think they can get it right?
