Toyota/Save Mart 350 weekend preview: After dominant win in 2023, Martin Truex Jr. looks to conquer Sonoma’s repaved circuit, become one of the best ever at technical road course
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
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Certain drivers make legacies at tracks in NASCAR. Jeff Gordon did it at Sonoma Raceway. Don’t look now, but Martin Truex Jr. is hot on his heels to become one of the greatest drivers ever in Wine Country.
In next Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, Truex will look to join Gordon as the second-ever five-time winner at the twisting road course tucked in the Sonoma hills.
During NASCAR’s lone Northern California visit last year, it was Truex who dominated on the way to his fourth win at the 12-turn 1.99-mile road course. With a win this year, Truex will become one of the best at the track. He would join Jeff Gordon as the only five-time winner. Truex would also have an argument to be made that he is better than Gordon at Sonoma as he will have won on every configuration with different generations of race and a new surface. Truex has yet to win this season.
“Chasing Jeff Gordon is no small task and he’s knocking on the door,” Sonoma Raceway Vice President and General Manager Brian Flynn pointed out. “So (he’s’) got four going for number five, it creates excitement and he’s a really good road course racer. But there’s some other guys in the field that are that are also equally stout and strong.”
So far this season, there have been only a few drivers to get to victory lane. William Byron has won three times in the Daytona 500, the most recent road course at Circuit of the Americas, and Martinsville. Denny Hamlin won Dover, Richmond, and Bristol spring’s return to the concrete. Hamlin also won the Busch Light Clash in LA as well. Christopher Bell won at Phoenix and the Coca-Cola 600. Hometown hero Kyle Larson won the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas in March and the closest finish in NASCAR history at Kansas.
Others finding victory lane and punching their ticket to the playoffs are 2022 Sonoma winner Daniel Suarez in another photo finish at Atlanta, Corning’s Tyler Reddick at Talladega, fan-favorite Chase Elliott at Texas, and Brad Keselowski at Darlington. Joey Logano is winless but just won the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro a few weeks back. Austin Cindric picked up his first win since 2022 with a win at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis in the most recent race. In all, there have been nine different winners so far this season.
As is usually the case, this will be the hometown race for Larson. It will be just two weeks after a near attempt at the Indianapolis 500, the Coca-Cola 600 double. This was thwarted by rain. As of now, he needs a waiver from NASCAR to be eligible for the playoffs at the end of the regular season.
The race will also have some road ringers entered in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) will bring their Stage 60 car for Cam Waters. He is an 11-time winner in Australian Supercars. He has made a few starts in the Craftsman Truck Series for ThorSport but this will be his debut in Cup. Also making his NASCAR debut in Sonoma will be Will Brown, who is the current SuperCars point leader. He will be racing in the No. 33 car for Richard Childress Racing. All of this comes nearly a year after Shane Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his first Cup start.
Stage breaks will return after a year break. The stage breaks will be at laps 25, 55, and 110. The expectation is that the teams that qualify up front and have the best cars will pit before the stage ends to have a chance to win the race. This means a host of different drivers could collect stage points in the first two stages.
On a somber note, this will be the final race at Sonoma for Stewart-Haas Racing after it was announced they’d be shutting down at year’s end. Their four charters are also up for sale. The organization started in 2009 and won two Cup Series titles and an Xfinity Series tile last year.
The Cup Series will also have a 50-minute practice on Friday. This will be the first time there has been a significant amount of practice at the track since 2019.
“It’s huge for us,” said Erik Jones, driver of the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota. “I would love for more practice to be back. You know, I feel like any time we have a chance to work on our car and learn, you know, that’s, that’s a better day for us. So I’m happy about it.”
There is also plenty of newness around the track this year. It can be seen both visually and behind the scenes.
The biggest thing entering the NASCAR weekend is the freshly repaved track. The decision was made to repave the track last year following the Velocity Invitational. The repave wasn’t needed for NASCAR but was needed for the tracks’ other clients as it was too rough for them. This was the first repave in 23 years.
But naturally, it will bring the most attention for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 race weekend. In December of 2023, they began milling the surface for the repave. Then in February, the repaved surface was completed. There was a lot of attention around the track in April when parts of the freshly repaved track came up during a test and tune session for the Fanatec GT World Challenge America weekend. That weekend was the first real test of the new surface.
With the surface being new, Goodyear conducted a tire test in March. Lap times were way faster during this as well, meaning the new track record could be set during the NASCAR weekend.
During the tire test, it was noticeable that lap times were a lot faster than they had been in years past. This means the track record will more than likely be set during the weekend with the speeds being up so much.
“Yeah, it’s fast. The pavement has so much grip that now the rumble strips feel really slick because you’re going so much faster,” said Ross Chastain, the Chevy represented driver at the tire test in March. “Everything is faster – I’m not using the curbs as much as I used to – I’ve evolved throughout the day. We’re in different gears – we’re in second where we used to be in first, we’re in fifth where we used to be in fourth … everything is up a gear and everything is happening fast. Trying to stay off the brake pedal, trying to let the car roll and use the tire grip for what it is.”
This also puts an even bigger emphasis on qualifying. Passing is already hard enough and on a fast race track, this could be even harder.
“Track position is going to be everything,” Truex said during the tire test in March. “It’s unbelievably fast, so qualifying and track position is going to be everything.”
Also new to the track this year is Brian Flynn, the new Vice President and GM of Sonoma Raceway who replaced Jill Gregory. This will be his first Toyota/Save Mart 350 weekend at the helm.
You can watch the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on June 9th on Fox at 12:30 pm. NASCAR RaceDay will come on the air on Fox at noon.
For now, this will be the final year of the race being broadcast on Fox Sports. A new TV deal will add new partners Amazon Prime Video and Turner Sports next year over the summer.
Xfinity Series rolls into Sonoma for second straight year
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will be the main show on Saturday once again. The up-and-coming stars will once again tackle the Northern California road course. It will be the second West Coast race in a row for the Xfinity Series after a stop in Portland.
However, the race has got a new name this year. It will be the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250. This race’s stage breaks will be at laps 20, 45, and 79.
“We eagerly look forward to working with Zip Co. as the new entitlement sponsor for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway,” Flynn said in a press release. “Zip Co.’s vision to expand its customer base through motorsports mirrors our own dedication to attracting diverse audiences to the thrilling world of racing.”
So far this season, regulars to win in the series are Austin Hill at Daytona and Atlanta. Chandler Smith won Phoenix and Richmond. Junior Motorsports has two wins on the year with Sam Mayer winning at Texas by a nose, and Justin Allgaier winning at Darlington. Van Gisbergen won the most recent race in Portland.
Menlo Park’s Jesse Love won at Talladega. He is in his rookie year in the Xfinity Series.
Other winners who aren’t full-time or aren’t eligible in the series are Larson at Circuit of the Americas, Elliott at Charlotte, Ryan Truex won Dover, Aric Almirola won Martinsville, and John Hunter Nemechek won Las Vegas in March. Nemechek will also be in the race on Saturday in the 20 car.
Cup series regular Ty Gibbs will also run the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250. Long-time road ringer Boris Said will also be in the field piloting the Hendrick Motorsports 17 car.
ARCA West returns to highlight Friday’s action
Once again, the ARCA West Series will return to Sonoma Raceway.
The General Tire 200 will air live on FloRacing at 3:30 pm where a subscription is required. The day will also be highlighted by 50-minute practices for the Xfinity and Cup Series. This race will be 64 laps in length.
Sean Hingorani leads the overall point standings through two races. Ryan Preece is the defending winner of the event as well.
William Sawalich won at Phoenix and Portland this season and Kole Raz at Kern County.
Plenty of other things on tap during the weekend as well
There will be plenty for fans to do when there isn’t on-track action.
The main highlight comes on Saturday as there will be the first-ever agriculture showcase. There will be plenty to do for people of all ages at this as well.
“Being situated on a former dairy farm, it’s a perfect fit to showcase California’s agricultural,” Flynn added in a press release. “We’ve taken our Tech Garage and turned it into an Ag Pavilion, there’s fun for everybody.”
Country singer Tim Duggar and Friends will perform after the Xfinity race as he’s done in years past.
Before the Cup Series race on Sunday, Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants DJ Umami will perform. Impractical Jokers star James “Murr” Murray will give the command to fire engines.
“Murr bringing his exuberant style to the Toyota/Save Mart 350 as Grand Marshal is a great fit for our race,” Flynn explained in a press release. “Fans can expect the unexpected from both the racing and Murr himself, adding to the thrilling atmosphere of our race day experience.”
Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Mike Joy will also race in the Historic Trans-Am race. There are also many different ticket packages available for the race weekend.
For all information, you can go to https://www.sonomaraceway.com.
