Sonoma Raceway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s not often that NASCAR takes away a win from a driver that crossed the finish line first. In NASCAR’s Modern Era, the sanctioning body has only taken that step twice: Back in 2008 at Talladega, when Regan Smith passed Tony Stewart below the yellow line to win and 26 years ago at Sonoma Raceway, site of this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. With that in mind, the 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 and the controversial finish that ensued will be the focus of this week’sRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads into week 16 of the 2017 season, the series gets ready to make its first right hand turns of the year. This week, the series makes the trek out to California wine country to take on the 1.990 mile Sonoma Raceway, a 12-turn technical road course situated about 30 miles north of San Francisco. This week’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 consists of 110 laps, which calculates out to 218.9 miles, or 350 kilometers. Over the years, the courseRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer With Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) driver Aric Almirola still recovering from his injury at Kansas Speedway, and substitute Darrell Wallace, Jr. having no experience at Sonoma Raceway, RPM elected to take a different route. Road racing veteran and IMSA regular, Billy Johnson will pilot the No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. This will be Johnson’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut. Johnson is fresh off the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans where he co-drove the No. 66Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Last year, Alon Day became the first Israeli-born driver to compete in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The Ashdod, Israel, native turned heads at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course when he ran well inside the Top 10 and top five for much of the race before getting spun on the final lap and finishing 13th. Day, a regular in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, will now make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut in the BK Racing No. 23Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After losing a left rear wheel in last Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 team was handed a stiff penalty from NASCAR on Wednesday, which will leave Busch without his crew chief and two pit crew members for the next four races. Just 19 laps into the AAA 400 at Dover, Busch made his way down pit road for routine service under caution, but that’s when everything went wrong for his Joe Gibbs Racing team. Before any ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer A massive wind of change has swept across Dale Coyne Racing in preparation for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Two new drivers were signed and their paths to the seat couldn’t have been more different. Sebastien Bourdais left KVSH Racing to join the Illinois-based team while Ed Jones parlayed his Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires championship check with other sponsorship into the second seat and so far is the only confirmed rookie for the 2017 season. Adding to that theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 35 Years in Cup: 11 Career Wins: One Biggest Accomplishment: First career Cup Series win (Watkins Glen – 2014) For A.J. Allmendinger, 2016 may not have provided a race win or a Chase berth, but the California native was still able to rebound from a down year in 2015 to make some noise in hisRead More

By Conor Daly, Verizon IndyCar Series Driver I can’t believe the season has already come to an end. It went by so fast, especially the last couple of months. I really didn’t want it to end. The last race of the season didn’t really go the way we wanted it to. It was unfortunate that our worst races this year were on the double points weekends in Sonoma and Indianapolis. That cost us a chance at the Rookie of the Year title. Of course with Rossi winning the Indy 500,Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter SONOMA, Calif. – The Verizon IndyCar Series championship battle between Team Penske teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud features two hungry drivers trying to solidify their place in Indy car racing history. Both combatants have had opposite seasons which has led them to this point. Pagenaud has been the man to beat the entire season, taking the points lead after the Phoenix Grand Prix in April and held the lead ever since. He has scored four wins, including three in-a-row at Long Beach, Barber and the GrandRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief SONOMA, Calif. – Helio Castroneves nearly found the top spot in Firestone Fast Six qualifying on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway, but his chance at starting on pole for Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma evaporated at the hands of Team Penske teammate and Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Simon Pagenaud. The 41-year-old Brazilian, who will start second, has witnessed firsthand the dominance that Pagenaud has displayed – scoring what is now seven poles to match seven podiums and four wins. Castroneves, driver of the No. 3Read More