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The valleys and vineyards of Northern California attract common men and connoisseurs from far and wide to partake in the fine wine that this part of the Golden State produces. The area oozes elegance and offers serenity, but within the southern Sonoma Mountains is a racetrack that grants this place its attitude and keeps it from being too bourgeois.

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its yearly visit to Sonoma Raceway, a place it was visited annually since 1989, for this weekend's Toyota/Save Mart 350. A challenging racetrack defined by elevation changes that mixes heavy braking zones with fast and sweeping esses, this 1.9-mile, 12-turn course has long been a standard bearer for road racing in NASCAR. And that's best evidenced by a list of winners that includes many NASCAR Hall of Famers like Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart along with current stars like Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez.

How to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma

Date: Sun., Jun. 9
Location: Sonoma Raceway -- Sonoma, Calif.
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: Fox
Stream: fubo (try for free)

What to Watch

The look and feel of Sonoma's racing surface is decidedly different this year, as the track was repaved over the offseason for the first time in 23 years. Work on the new pavement was completed in late February, and it was only a month later that three drivers -- Ross Chastain, Josh Berry and Martin Truex Jr. -- became the first Cup drivers to christen the surface in a Goodyear tire test.

As could be expected of a repave, drivers reported high grip and a faster racetrack, with Ross Chastain saying that he was putting down laps 2.5 seconds faster than the track record. While early June presents much hotter and slicker conditions than late March, it was also noted that there was some tire falloff to help rubber the track in, something not often seen on newer surfaces.

"We're in different gears — we're in second, where we used to be in first; we're in fifth, where we used to be in fourth," Chastain said in a report by NASCAR.com. "Everything's kind of up in the air. Everything's happening fast. Just trying to stay off the brake pedal and trying to let the car roll, use the tire grip for what it is."

Truex in particular getting a jump on Sonoma's new pavement, given his history here, could be bad news for the rest of the field. Truex has four career wins at Sonoma including this race a year ago, and all of his wins have come in dominating fashion. In each Sonoma race that he's won, Truex has led 51 laps or more including that exact number a year ago.

News of the Week

  • NASCAR announced Tuesday that the sanctioning body has granted Kyle Larson a playoff waiver after he missed the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte due to rain plaguing both ends of his Indy-Charlotte Double attempt, keeping Larson eligible for the NASCAR playoffs despite him racing in his rain-delayed first Indianapolis 500 instead of flying to Charlotte for the start of the Coke 600. NASCAR made their final ruling on the basis that Larson had made every attempt to get to Charlotte to complete the Coke 600 and had been ready to climb in his car when a storm ended the event short of the finish.
  • Front Row Motorsports announced that it has signed Todd Gilliland to a multi-year contract extension, establishing him as their lead driver ahead of the team's planned expansion to three cars in 2025. Gilliland first joined FRM's Truck Series team in 2020 before earning a promotion to Cup for 2022, and he now will inherit a seniority role following teammate Michael McDowell's departure for Spire Motorsports.
  • In preparation for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis in July, Goodyear held a tire test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Todd Gilliland participating. Busch's test was cut short by a crash on Tuesday, which a Goodyear spokesperson said was not tire-related.
  • NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Kyle Weatherman was fined $25,000 this week for an incident that occurred after the checkered flag in last week's race at Portland, where Weatherman allegedly hit another car on pit road following the race. Weatherman was penalized under Sections 4.4.B&D of the NASCAR Rule Book covering the sport's Code of Conduct.
  • CARS Tour standout Brenden "Butterbean" Queen has earned two more Craftsman Truck Series races with TRICON Garage, as he will once again pilot the No. 1 Toyota at Nashville and Kansas. The late model star's Truck debut was one of the highlights of North Wilkesboro weekend, as Queen drove to an impressive fourth place finish.
  • American racing legend Parnelli Jones died Tuesday at the age of 90, a loss that touched NASCAR as well as many other forms of U.S. motorsports. The 1963 Indianapolis 500 champion made 34 Cup Series starts between 1956 and 1970, winning four times, while also winning races in the Pacific Coast Late Model circuit, the predecessor to what is now the ARCA Menards Series West.
  • Former NASCAR driver Tighe Scott, who competed in the Cup Series throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, was among four Pennslyvania men arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. Scott made 89 Cup starts between 1976 and 1982, earning three top fives and 18 top 10s with a best finish of fourth at Rockingham in 1979.

Pick to Win

Ty Gibbs (+750) – It's another week where I'm calling for Ty Gibbs' first career win, as I'm banking heavily on Gibbs' road racing skills plus his recent streak of good performances shining through. If you remember the last road race at Circuit of the Americas, Gibbs qualified on the outside pole and spent much of the race running second to William Byron before relinquishing that spot late and finishing third. 

While Gibbs was only 18th in his lone start at Sonoma a year ago, it wasn't as though he lacked raw pace considering he qualified sixth for that event. I feel Gibbs has an extremely strong chance to join Juan Pablo Montoya (2007) and Daniel Suarez (2022) among Cup drivers to get their first wins at Sonoma.