The Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California is the next destination of the Monster Energy Cup Series, with plenty of intrigue surrounding the event. Will Kyle Busch win another race this season? Will Martin Truex Jr. tie Busch’s for the current wins leadership on the season? Or will a sleeper or a long shot win the race? Read on for a preview of the race below.
There’s Kyle Busch, then there’s everybody else. Please don’t get tired of reading Busch’s name here, because such greatness are always fleeting, and we all just have to appreciate the Team Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s dominance while it’s still here. Busch has four wins on the season and sits atop the Monster Energy Cup standings with 605 points — 74 more points above all other drivers — and he has done all of that without even winning a pole position as of yet this season. Busch has finished inside the top five in each of his last four starts, including a win in Pocono on Jun. 2. Busch has two wins in Pocono, having won at the 2015 Toyota/SaveMart 350 and at the 2008 edition of the same event.
Martin Truex Jr.
Engine trouble caused Truex to have a premature finish in Pocono, but it didn’t take him long to recover and get back in track. Last week in Michigan, Truex finished third for his second top-three finish in three races. He copped the win in Charlotte late last month. Truex has two wins in Sonoma out of 13 career races there. He also has had three top 5s and four top 10s there. He is the defending titlist of the Toyota/SaveMart 350 entering this weekend’s race.
SLEEPERS
Ryan Newman
Newman is in an interesting battle with Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, and Erik Jones for the last few spots in the playoff picture as all three of them are only within 12 points of each other. Newman is on the outside looking in, as he’s currently 17th with 361 points. He did himself a solid by finishing eighth in Michigan, which is his best finish in six races. He’s got a chance to get further boost in his points total this coming weekend at Sonoma Raceway. Although Newman hasn’t won in Sonoma before, he has the fifth best average finish (13.18) at the track among all drivers.
Clint Bowyer
Bowyer is in danger of sliding down the Monster Energy Cup standings. He is currently 12th on the standings, but Daniel Suarez is breathing down his neck. Suarez is only three points behind Bowyer, so the latter knows the race in Sonoma is very important. The good news for Bowyer is that he’s always been a strong performer in Sonoma. In fact, he won the 2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350, and while that was a bit of a long time ago, he keeps the best average finish among all drivers there with a 10.08 clip. Furthermore, Bowyer has finished no worse than third in each of his last two appearances at Sonoma Raceway.
LONG SHOT
Paul Menard
Menard is also among the drivers on the outside of the playoff picture but is still within distance of getting in it. Menard, who is 19th on the standings with 336 points, finished 13th in Michigan last week and 18th in Pocono on Jun. 2. Menard finished just 26th in last year’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, but has seven top 20s in Sonoma. His best finish there so far in his career was a fifth-place campaign at the 2014 Toyota/Save Mart 350.
Writer’s Prediction
Clint Bowyer gets his first win of the season with a victory in Sonoma.
