Sonoma Race Review and Analysis
Racing in wine country! The Nascar Cup Series visited Sonoma Raceway, located in Sonoma, California for a road course race weekend. Daniel Suarez takes home the checkered flag here today in Sonoma. This is Suarez’s first career win and 1st of the 2022 season. The 6th-year driver is the 12th different winner in the 2022 season.
(Daniel Suarez Post Race)
Coming into today, this was officially the last race before we head into the summer season in Nascar. Daniel Suarez, who is a teammate to Ross Chastain, was the only winless driver at Trackhouse Racing. Chastain has won twice, to now Suarez’s one after Sonoma. Daniel Suarez was below the cutline coming into this afternoon, today he leaves wine country above it with a chance for the championship this fall. Daniel Suarez held off Chris Buescher in the final stretch of today’s race to top off a stellar performance. Suarez becomes the first driver out of Monterrey, Mexico to win a race in the Nascar Cup Series.
Let’s rewind to stage 1, with Kyle Larson winning the opening segment. This is Larson’s 37th career stage win. Joey Logano won stage 2, this is his 30th career stage win. Both drivers had an up and down afternoon. Kyle Larson spun today, setting him back in the field as stage 1 seemed to be the only bright spot for Larson. He was caught up in traffic for most of today, he comes 15th. Larson may see a penalty come his way as well. A tire fell off of his #5 machine during today’s race. As well documented this season, with a tire coming off of the car, comes a hefty penalty. Larson may see suspensions come to a number of crew members, including Cliff Daniels his crew chief. Along with this, a 100,000-dollar fine is laid down by Nascar to follow the number of suspensions. This will be huge for Larson if this penalty is assigned to his #5 camp. Joey Logano’s #22 car fluctuated throughout today’s race. Finishing 2nd in stage 1, and 1st in stage 2, he struggled in the final stage, and the #22 team settled with a 17th place finish.
(Daniel Suarez with his #99 team Post Race)
Notable drivers throughout today’s race were, Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Kevin Harvick, Austin Cindric, Ryan BlaneyBrad Keselowski, and Chase Elliott. Daniel Suarez, in his 195th career start, finally gets it done today with a win. This was an impressive showing by the #99 camp. Chris Buescher finishes 2nd, after being out with Covid, Buescher didn’t lose a step as his #17 car was fast all afternoon. Michael McDowell finishes 3rd, the #34 car is always a contender when the Cup Series visits superspeedways and road courses. Since we were on a road course today, McDowell was up front all day long. Today was a great day for Front Row Motorsports’ #34 team. Kevin Harvick, for Stewart Haas Racing, finishes 4th. The 46 year old, 22-year veteran ran strong today in California. This was a much needed finish as today’s winner shakes up the official standings majorly. Austin Cindric finishes 5th. Cindric is another road course ringer that is capable of winning on any road course. The #2 car was fast this afternoon, this creates a great commute for Cindric’s team heading into Nashville. Ryan Blaney finishes 6th for Team Penske. Teammates with Austin Cindric and Joey Logano, the #12 car showed great speed around this road course. Chase Elliott finishes 8th for Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott who also is great on road courses, ran a stellar race today. Elliott was contending for the lead in the first stage. Elliott hung around the top ten for the rest of the afternoon. Brad Keselowski finished in 10th for RFK Racing. Team co-owner Brad Keselowski, ran a solid race in Sonoma this afternoon. This is much needed momentum for the #6 team as they head into Nashville.
Some guys with not the best performances today were Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch. Overall today was not a good day for Toyota. Their highest finishing car out of both Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing was Kurt Busch for 23XI in 18th. Christopher Bell, the fourth Joe Gibbs car finished in 27th, with teammate Martin Truex jr. in 26th. Wallace had engine issues on lap 10 of today’s race, he finishes 36th for 23XI Racing and team manufacture Toyota. Denny Hamlin comes home in 31th, with Kyle Busch just ahead in the 30th position. Toyota will need to rebound heading into the next race at Nashville Superspeedway. Tyler Reddick for Richard Childress Racing saw issues today. A spin coming in the last portion of today’s race ruined a decent day for Reddick. He comes home 35th.
(Suarez with the famous Sonoma, California Wine)
In my opinion, today was a solid day in Sonoma. We saw a 1st-time winner, and a different driver added to the playoff field. We wrapped up the Fox Sports portion of the season, as we set our sails for NBC on June 26th. We’re now in the summer officially for Nascar, which is a crazy fact. Daniel Suarez finally checks the box as a winner in the Nascar Cup Series. Along with the second road course of the 2022 season being in the books, today was a good day for Nascar. Heading into a week off for the Cup Series, I’d rate today’s action an 8.6 out of 10.
Nashville Superspeedway is up next for the Nascar Cup Series! But, the 1.3-mile track will have to wait one more week until we see cars on track. Upon us is the only off week in the Nascar Cup Series season schedule. The only series racing this upcoming weekend will be the Camping World Truck Series at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. The Xfinity Series is on its last week off, as the Cup Series heads into their off week. But all three series will make the trip to Nashville Superspeedway the weekend of June 24th - 26th. Let’s break down the next two race weekends in Nascar. The Truck Series will have practice and qualifying Friday night in Knoxville. Starting at 7:05pm ET this upcoming Friday, the Truck Series will hit the dirt for the heat qualifying races. The dirt race in Knoxville will be on June 18th, the following day that Saturday at 9:00pm ET. The following weekend will be all three series in Nashville. Located in Lebanon, Tennessee, the Truck Series will have practice and qualifying on Friday afternoon starting at 4:00pm ET. The Xfinity Series will have practice Friday afternoon at 5:35pm ET following the Truck Series. The Truck Series will hold their race at 8:00pm ET on Friday night. Qualifying will be at 12:00pm ET on Saturday, and the race will be at 3:30pm ET that afternoon for the Xfinity Series. The Cup Series will hit the track Friday evening for practice at 6:30pm ET. The Cup Series will have qualifying at 1:00pm ET on Saturday. The Ally 400 will be at 5:00pm ET on Sunday. Tune in for the Cup Series in Nashville at 5:00pm ET on Sunday, June 26th, only on NBC.
( All images credited to https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/cup-series.)
For next week's race information please view the link down below:
https://www.nashvillesuperspeedway.com/
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