Road Course racing is an art. It takes a special set of skills to get a 3,300-pound car to turn left and right at the speeds NASCAR demands. This is the one weekend a year NASCAR puts down the beer and picks up the wine glass as 38 brave souls will navigate around the freshly repaved Sonoma Raceway. A race that once was about protecting the tires throughout the stint now, will be about how long can you go full speed without messing up with no regard for tires.
Sonoma Track Facts
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Sonoma is a unique track that handles it’s lawn care needs very different than almost any other track. Sonoma houses 4,000 sheep to maintain the grass on the track, Don’t worry animal lovers the sheep will not be on the track during the race (although it would be interesting). Sonoma has started a great foundation with the sheep. You can symbolically adopt a sheep at Sonoma Raceway. All proceeds go helping children experiencing domestic trama, food insecurity and homelessness and foster care needs.
The winner of the race receives a trophy unlike any other. The winner receives the Champions Goblet handcrafted by a local glass blower. The Winner takes a sip from the goblet since 2006 incorporating the Sonoma’s rich wine heritage.
Drivers who complete the 110 lap race will make a 1,100 turns around the road course. A long with the vast elevation change of 160 foot difference between it’s highest point in turn 3a at 174 feet above sea level to the lowest point in turn 10 at just 14 feet above sea level.
The Pit Strategy
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The first two stages of the race we will see the leaders pit two or three laps before the end of the stage. with over a minute long laps drivers will have plenty of time to get four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel without the risk of going a lap down. Drivers within approximately three seconds of the leader will be able to come with three laps left in the stage for the drivers further back would have to come down with four to go because pit lane closes when the leader crosses the start finish line with two to go.
The final stage is 55 laps and will need to pit at some point in the stage. Normally you would split the stage in half but since the repave the strategy will be split, some drivers will take a chance and pit at the first opportunity incase a caution comes out and will not have to pit at the caution and get cycled to the front. Other drivers will try to run it dry all the way to the end of the fuel run and potentially have built up enough of a lead to pit and not lose position to those who pitted on the front end of the stage.
NASCAR avoids Public Relations Disaster
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NASCAR left fans on the edge of their seats over the last number of day after NASCAR came out with the updated point standings that showed Kyle Larson had zero playoff points(usually meaning he is ineligible for the championship). Fans and media speculated that Larson’s playoff waiver was denied by NASCAR, however NASCAR broke the news Tuesday morning that NASCAR accepted the waiver making Larson eligible for the championship.
Larson needed the waiver after missing the rain shortened Coke 600 after the Indy 500 was delayed by rain. NASCAR drug the process out leaving many to speculate that his waiver could be denied after cryptic statement from NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer:
To my knowledge, I haven’t seen a request come through, I’m sure at some point, they will send in that request. This will be a decision that not just one person will make but a group will look at it, discuss it, and move forward. He has missed a race. It’s a little bit uncharted waters for us because, in the past, the waivers have been mostly given for medical reasons. So, this one’s a little bit different.
An unnecessary PR blunder from NASCAR making what is a non story into front page motorsport news painting NASCAR in a bad light. Thankfully the PR nightmare is over and Larson is eligible for the championship and hopefully NASCAR has learned from these blunders.
The race at Sonoma is the final race in the NASCAR for FOX this year. The race starts at 3:30 eastern of FOX June 9th. The rest of the season the NASCAR broadcast moves to NBC, USA, and Peacock.
About The Author
Dillon Hildreth is a writer for Total Apex and a lifelong fan of Football with his favorite teams being the New England Patriots and the Georgia Bulldogs. Dillon is also a fan of Motorsports Red Bull in Formula One and William Byron in NASCAR. You can catch Dillon Stream F1, NASCAR, and other video games and sidecasts on Twitch.
