NASCAR’s top two national series will head to Sonoma Raceway this weekend for its first and only visit to California this season.
The road course north of San Francisco also will play host to the ARCA West Series over a three-day schedule of racing on its 11-turn, 1.99-mile layout. ARCA will hold a 64-lap race Friday, followed by a 79-lap Xfinity race Saturday and a 110-lap Cup event Sunday.
Kyle Larson is the defending winner of the Cup race and one of only three Sonoma winners in the Cup field along with Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez.
Shane van Gisbergen, who swept last weekend’s Chicago Street Race, is the defending Xfinity race winner. He will race in both of NASCAR’s top two series again this weekend.
Sonoma will mark the third round of the In-Season Challenge in the Cup Series. Here are the matchups (with driver seeding):
—Alex Bowman (8) vs. Ty Dillon (32)
—John Hunter Nemechek (12) vs. Erik Jones (20)
—Ryan Preece (15) vs. Tyler Reddick (23)
—Ty Gibbs (6) vs. Zane Smith (14)
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher has scored three consecutive top-five finishes at Sonoma Raceway.
Sonoma weekend schedule
(All Times Eastern)
Friday, July 11
Garage open
- 10:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. — ARCA West Series
- 11 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. — Xfinity Series
- 5:30 – 10:30 p.m. — Cup Series
Track activity
- 1:40 – 3 p.m. — ARCA West practice
- 3:10 – 3:30 p.m. — ARCA West qualifying
- 4 – 4:50 p.m. — Xfinity practice (CW App)
- 5:05 – 6 p.m. — Xfinity qualifying (CW App)
- 6:30 p.m. — ARCA West race (64 laps, 127.36 miles; Flo Racing, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday, July 12
Garage open
- 12:30 – 10 p.m. — Xfinity Series
- 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. — Cup Series
Track activity
- 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. — Cup practice (truTV, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 2:40 – 3:30 p.m. — Cup qualifying (truTV, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 4:30 p.m. — Xfinity race (79 laps, 157.21 miles; Stage 1 at Lap 20, Stage 2 at Lap 45; CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, July 13
Garage open
- 12:30 – 10 p.m. — Cup Series
Track activity
- 3:30 p.m. — Cup race (110 laps, 218.9 miles; Stage 1 at Lap 25, Stage 2 at Lap 55; TNT, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Weekend weather
Friday: Mostly sunny with a high of 81 degrees and winds from the south at 5 to 10 mph. It’s expected to be 85 degrees with a 0% chance of rain at the start of the ARCA race.
Saturday: Mostly sunny with a high 83 degrees and winds from the south to southwest at 10 to 15 mph. It’s expected to be 80 degrees with a 0% chance of rain at the start of the Xfinity race.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with a high of 83 degrees and winds from the southwest at 10 to 15 mph. It’s expected to be 80 degrees with a 0% chance of rain at the start of the Cup race.
Read the full article here