After a week off we should see racing every week from now until the later stages of September. There have now been fifteen points races run this season and that means only eleven more to go before the start of the playoffs. That shouldn’t worry too many drivers at this point who don’t have win yet, but it won’t be long before they do start to worry about making the playoffs.
TOYOTA/SAVE MART 350
This week the series heads back out west to the Sonoma Raceway for the running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350. This will be the first road course race of the year and we could see a first time winner for this season. Over the past few years the field has seemed to improved quite a bit at this type of track where a lot of drivers can win here.
Clint Bowyer: I am going to pick Clint to win the race this weekend. This team looks much better this year than they did last year and Clint has always run very well here. He has one win and eight top five finishes in thirteen career races run at Sonoma. I think they pick up their first win of the season and qualify for the playoffs, but it won’t be easy.
Kevin Harvick: Kevin won this race two years ago and then finished second here last season. They are chomping at the bit to get their first win of the season and secure a spot in the playoffs. The concern here has been poor pit stops and many mistakes made on pit road. This week the cars will be pitting in the opposite direction they normally do and that might just throw a monkey wrench into an already bad situation.
Kyle Busch: Kyle has two wins at this track and finished fifth in each of his last two starts here. I think I am going to stay away from him this week just because of the fact that this type of track is very hard on equipment and any driver can get knocked out because of that. I think he is better used at tracks where he doesn’t have to worry too much about those kinds of things because he has proven he can win anywhere.
Martin Truex Jr.: Martin has won two of the last six races here, including the race last season and he pretty much dominated in both of those races. I think he is going to give the Stewart-Haas teams all they can handle this weekend and might even get his third win here. At this point he will be my starter in the A group of the DGG league.
Denny Hamlin: Denny has looked very good all season and he usually runs well on the road courses. He is still looking for his first career win at Sonoma and he might learn just enough more about this track from teammate Martin Truex Jr. to take that one extra step. He will be another driver who has an excellent shot at picking up another win on the season.
Chase Elliott: Chase has only run three races on this track and has finished in the top ten in his last two here. add the fact that he won at Watkins Glen last year and then finished sixth on the Roval at Charlotte and you can say he is a legitimate contender at all of the road course tracks now. Very well worth taking a chance on this week if you want to.
Kurt Busch: Kurt has been very impressive himself this season with his new team and he usually runs well at Sonoma. He has one win here, seven top five and ten top ten finishes in eighteen career starts. I look for him to have something for the rest of the field this weekend once again and it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see him win.
Joey Logano: The Michigan race winner usually starts out with a good car here, but ends up banging into the wrong bumper too many times in this race and then payback comes to haunt him. If he can learn to pass without using the bumper he will be a serious contender at these tracks. I would rather use him on the ovals at this point of his career though.
Ryan Newman: Ryan has run well at all of the road courses in his career and now that he is with Roush/Fenway Racing I think he has a good shot at picking up his first win at this track and his first win of the season. His best finish here was a second place finish and he is one of those drivers who is hard to pass on any track little less a road course.
Jimmie Johnson: Although he hasn’t had a really good past year and a half, Jimmie might be able to make some noise this weekend. He was in contention on the Roval at Charlotte last season and has one win, four top five and nine top ten finishes at this track in seventeen career starts. This might be his best shot at qualifying for the playoffs with a win rather than trying to point his way in.
DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR SONOMA RACEWAY
Driver Group Game Group A
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Chase Elliott
Driver Group Game Group B
- Clint Bowyer
- Kurt Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
- Ryan Newman
Driver Group Game Group C
- Michael McDowell
- Chris Buescher
MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT SONOMA RACEWAY
- Clint Bowyer
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Busch
- Chase Elliott
- Kevin Harvick
Dark Horse: Daniel Suarez
Stay Away From: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Big 18: Clint Bowyer
28 replies on “2019 Sonoma Raceway, Toyota / Save Mart 350”
Buscher or Newman, who do you think will have the better finish?
I’ve got to go with Newman.
Jeff I’m looking at these guys
1 4 9 11 14 18… look good? or would you swap any out for the 19? T.I.A.
I might switch the 4 and 19 seeing how poorly their pit stops have been this year.
What is the big 18 what does this mean ?
I was wondering as well what the big 18 means
The big 18 is for those who can only pick a driver max two times per season. No A, B, or C drivers their all combined. Another NASCAR fantasy game played by many.
The group I was in you had to have all your picks locked before the season started.
Jeff is given his advise for those who pick each week throughout the entire season.
Thanks Darn.
Jeff, Have you seen Sonoma with the addition of the Carousel? I have not yet seen it. If so, is the course more like Watkins Glen making your Dark horse #41 an even better selection? Nice pick on Joey last week! Thanks, D
Hey Dennis, They use to run the carousel up until 1998. If I remember correctly they wanted to separate the two track venues. NHRA (Drag Racing) & NASCAR because the carousel and turn 12 & 1 would use sections of the NHRA drag strip causing the left lane to be a bit hairy for those racers.
If you google the Sonoma Raceway layout with the carousel and look under images you’ll see the “New Carousel.”
Best of luck.
They put in the bus stop to slow the drivers down because too many were running too fast through that section of the track and there was a lot of potential for serious injury.
19-18-4 my pick thanks jeff
I picked the 14 to win!
19-18-4-14-9-1-11-2 my pick need stage points thanks Jeff
22
Jeff,
How many teams are playing the DGG? Thanks
13892
13892 in the DGG default league. Just guessing there at least 18, 000 including those in other leagues in DGG
Pole pick?
Bowyer
Truex, Bowyer, Almirola, McDowell
Bench
Larson, Busch, Johnson, Buescher
2nd place on my league, would you change anything?
Thanks
I switch Larson and Truex and Busch and Almirola.
Busch isn’t a surprise but Larson over Truex?
Curious as to what you think is different from years past.
Larson generally fades on longer runs.
Starting on the pole he should lead at least the first lap if not the most laps in the race. That is 10 extra points right off the bat. Save Truex for other tracks. You might not use Larson much the rest of the season. This isn’t just about one race, but the entire season.
Gotcha.
I have 8 left w Larson, 7 w Truex.
Been saving Truex.
Picked Larson for Q Points.
Larson and Elliott or Boyer and Kurt Busch? Thank you for all you do!
Tough call, but I go with Bowyer and Busch
Stuck w Truex, Larson faded as usual.