For the third time in five weekends, the NASCAR Cup Series will race on a road course.
After recent trips to Mexico and Chicago, the Cup Series is at Sonoma Raceway. Shane van Gisbergen seeks to tie Jeff Gordon’s record of three consecutive road course victories this weekend.
Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into Sunday’s race.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick will make his 200th career Cup start this weekend. … Reddick finished eighth at Sonoma last year for his best Cup result there in four starts. … Reddick has eight top-10 finishes in the last 11 road course races. … Reddick ranks second in points scored (107) on road courses this season to Shane van Gisbergen (135 points). … Riley Herbst placed 17th at Chicago, ending a streak of seven consecutive finishes of 24th or worse this year. Bad news: Bubba Wallace was headed for a top-10 finish at Chicago before he crashed in the final laps after contact with Alex Bowman. … Wallace has finished outside the top 20 in six of the last nine races. … Wallace has three top-10 finishes in 35 Cup road course starts. … Herbst is tied with Shane van Gisbergen for most pit road speeding penalties this season with six.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Todd Gilliland finished 10th at Sonoma last year, his best result there in three Cup starts. … Zane Smith has four top-15 finishes in the last six races. Bad news: Gilliland has finished 22nd or worse in the last six races. … Noah Gragson has finished 23rd or worse in the last six races.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer finished eighth on the road course at Mexico last month. … All five of Custer’s top-20 finishes this season have come in the last 10 races. Bad News: Custer has gone 136 starts since his one Cup victory, which came at Kentucky in July 2020.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Kyle Larson won last year’s race at Sonoma. … Alex Bowman is one of two drivers to finish in the top 10 in all three road course races this season (Shane van Gisbergen is the other). … Bowman has seven top-10 finishes in his last 11 Cup road course starts. … Chase Elliott has finished in the top 10 in the last four Sonoma races, tied with Ross Chastain for the longest active streak. … Elliott has led in each of the last five races at Sonoma. Bad news: Hendrick Motorsports has led a total of two laps in the three road course races this season. … Eleven different drivers have led more laps on road courses this season than Hendrick Motorsports. … William Byron has finished 27th or worse in each of the last three races. … Before his woes, only two drivers were within 100 points of Byron’s points lead. Now, two drivers are within 20 points and four drivers are within 40 points of Byron’s lead. … Larson has failed to lead a lap in six consecutive races.
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his 200th Cup start with the organization this weekend. Bad news: Stenhouse has fallen from 15th in the playoff standings (10 points above the cutline) to 26th in the playoff standings (82 points below the cutline) in the last six races.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin’s fourth-place finish last weekend at Chicago was only his second top-10 result on a road course in 19 starts in the Next Gen era. … Christopher Bell makes his 200th career Cup start this weekend. … Bell has finished in the top two in three of the last four road course races, including his win at COTA this year. … Ty Gibbs tied his career-best Cup finish by placing second at Chicago last week. … Gibbs has scored five consecutive top-15 finishes. Bad news: Hamlin has finished outside the top 30 in the last three Sonoma races. … Chase Briscoe has only two top-10 finishes in his last 10 starts on a road course.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon, the No. 32 seed in the In-Season Challenge, is among the eight remaining drivers still with a chance to win the $1 million prize. … AJ Allmendinger placed sixth at Chicago for his first top-10 result since the Coca-Cola 600 in late May. … Allmendinger has six finishes of sixth or better in his last 10 Cup road course starts. Bad news: Dillon has never had a top-20 finish in five Sonoma Cup starts.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: The team is guaranteed to have a driver among the final four in the In-Season Challenge with John Hunter Nemechek going against teammate Erik Jones in this weekend’s race at Sonoma. … Nemechek finished sixth at Mexico for his best Cup finish on a road course. … Jones has six top-15 finishes in the last nine races. Bad news: Jones has no top-10 finishes in his last 15 Cup road course starts.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has scored 23 of his 28 stage points at road courses this year. … Both of Busch’s top-five finishes this season have come on road courses. … Busch ranks second in the series in speed and third in passing on road courses this season. … Busch has two wins at Sonoma. Bad news: Austin Dillon finished a season-worst 36th last weekend at Chicago. … Dillon has placed 19th or worse in the last eight races. … Dillon has scored 17 points in three road course races this season, the fewest among drivers who started all three of those races.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware has scored more points in the last two races (35) than he had in the previous four races (29). Bad news: Ware was headed for his best finish in a Cup road course race until a brake rotor failed and he crashed in the final laps, finishing 26th. … Ware has never finished better than 24th in a Cup road course race in 18 starts.
RFK Racing — Good news: Ryan Preece gained 21 points on the playoff cutline at Chicago and is now two points out of a playoff spot with seven races left in the regular season. … Preece finished seventh at Chicago, giving him five top-10 results in the last eight races. … Preece ranks first in the series on restarts at road courses this season. … Chris Buescher has finished in the top five in each of the last three Sonoma races. … Buescher has seven top-10 finishes in his last 10 Cup road course starts. … Brad Keselowski ranks third in defense ratings on road courses this season. Bad news: Keselowski has failed to finish six races, tying Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez for most this season.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell finished second at Sonoma last year. … McDowell has placed seventh or better in the last three Sonoma races. Bad news: Throttle issues derailed McDowell’s chances of winning at Chicago after he won the opening stage. … All three cars finished outside the top 20 at Chicago. … Justin Haley has one top-20 finish in the last eight races. … Carson Hocevar has finished 29th or worse in four of the last seven races.
Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney has five top-10 finishes in eight Sonoma starts. Bad news: Austin Cindric has not finished better than 18th in the three road course races this season. … Blaney has only two top-10 finishes, including a win, in the last seven races. … Joey Logano has gone five races without a top-10 finish, the second time this year that he has had a streak of at least five consecutive races without a top-10 result.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen has won the past two road course races. … van Gisbergen is one of two drivers to finish in the top 10 in each of the three road course races this season (Alex Bowman is the other). … van Gisbergen is the only repeat winner in the last 10 Cup races this season. … van Gisbergen has a 2.67 average finish in three road course starts this year. … van Gisbergen’s three wins give him the most Cup wins by a foreign born driver. … Ross Chastain has finished in the top 10 in the last four Sonoma races, tied with Chase Elliott for the longest active streak. Bad news: Daniel Suarez has one top-10 finish in his last 15 Cup road course starts.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry has started in the top 10 in eight of 19 races this season. Bad news: Berry has finished 26th or worse in four of the last six races. … He placed 32nd last year at Sonoma in his lone Cup start there. … Berry has not scored a top-20 finish in eight Cup road course starts.
