I think Sonoma’s up there with Talladega and Daytona and some of the more classic short tracks (Bristol, maybe Martinsville) in terms of where one would like to see a race. Just a cool place.
Where It Is
Oh, jumped the gun a little. Sonoma. Road course. Just up above the San Francisco Bay.
When It Is
Green flag at 4:14 PM EDT.
How to Watch
FS1
Who to Watch
Chase Elliott, road course wizard, is at +200 over at Bovada, which is wildly likely for a NASCAR race. Martin Truex Jr. is at +400. Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson are both at +700.
Keep an eye too on Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who currently hold the four spots around the bubble. Buescher has a 55-point lead on DiBenedetto, but if exactly one person outside the current top 16 wins at any point from here on out, Buescher would need to be ahead of Reddick to make the playoffs.
How NASCAR Should Script It
I had a dream involving Chase Briscoe doing well or being expected by those I was with in the dream to do well, and I feel like that would be a good plot twist at this stage in the season. Tighten the playoff bubble, get a Ford up in there, give Stewart-Haas a little relief and hope in the middle of a terrible year.
Trucks, Xfinity
No trucks this weekend, but AJ Allmendinger won the Xfinity race at Mid-Ohio, working his way back through the field over the last twenty laps (which is kind of a lot on a road course, but still) after incurring a penalty for…not spending 50 seconds on pit road during a green-flag stop? I didn’t know that rule existed, and I’m assuming it’s a Mid-Ohio specific rule? Curious about that. Anyway, Allmendinger got back into the race, then caught a late caution to set the field on a plate for him, then fought his way through a crowded three-wide to take the lead and eventually the checkered flag.
