The “Chute” Returns to Sonoma
After two years spent holding races on its original layout, Sonoma Raceway is returning to the layout NASCAR raced on for most of the last two decades.
When the NASCAR Cup and Truck Series teams take to the California road course this weekend, it will be on the 1.99-mile, 11-turn layout that was used from 1999-2018.
To celebrate the track’s 50th anniversary, the track used its 2.52-mile configuration with the “Carousel” in 2019 and 2021.
The winner of the last Cup Series race on the 1.99-mile route was Martin Truex Jr.
Left-Rear Tire Issues Continue
Last weekend’s Cup visit to Gateway saw more instances of left-rear tires failing, most notably with polesitter and race leader Chase Briscoe during the first stage of Sunday’s race.
Goodyear has already stated its feelings on the matter, with a forceful reminder about its minimum tire pressure recommendations being more than a simple recommendation.
Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, addressed the sanctioning body’s view of the issue and what’s being done to keep the teams from hurting themselves.
“We review what Goodyear is seeing, we review all of the camber settings from all of the cars, because that’s part of our inspection process and kind of look at who was where and try to correlate problems with things — do the tire issues correlate with some of some of the setup parameters that that we’re able to see on our inspection process — and then just get with Goodyear,” Miller said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Goodyear obviously has an at-track sort of inspection of the tires that failed, and even inspecting tires that didn’t fail by cutting them apart and seeing if there was any inherent damage and the situation maybe about to happen. So we look at all of those things very, very closely.
“I think we continually get the question of, ‘well, should you check the pressures before they go on the cars?’ Trying to do that with 36 or 38 cars up and down pit road and do that accurately is really not something that is even in the realm of possibility. You can’t have your eyes on the teams at every second, and it only takes one second to hit that valve core and let air out. So that’s an unrealistic expectation that some people sailing in. It just isn’t practical and can’t happen. So it’s really up to Goodyear, us and the teams to figure this deal out. … So it is a little bit in the hands of the teams, no question. We’re not saying it’s all a team problem, but I think on that right now, they can do a lot to control their destiny there.”
Pearn Is Back
Cole Pearn just can’t stay away.
The former crew chief is back in the NASCAR garage this weekend to give Martin Truex Jr. a helping hand at Sonoma Raceway.
Pearn, who retired from full-time NASCAR competition after the 2019 season, will serve as the No. 19 team’s engineer. Truex’s usual traveling engineer, Nick Burton, is missing the weekend to attend a wedding.
This isn’t Pearn’s first time dipping back into the racing life. In 2020, he served as the lead engineer for Conor Daly in the Indianapolis 500.
Pearn and Truex won twice at Sonoma, in 2018 and ’19.
TV Ratings
Sunday’s inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Gateway, which aired on FS1, drew in an average of 2.502 million viewers and had a 1.47 rating.
No direct comparison can be made to previous years, since race No. 15 in 2021 was the Coca-Cola 600, which aired on Fox.
But here is the comparison to the races the week after the Coke 600 in 2019 and 2021.
#NASCAR at Gateway ratings analysis:
— Cindy Yen (@cindymeliyen) June 7, 2022
The inaugural Cup race at Gateway received an avg of 2.502mil viewers.
This is higher than the number of viewers in 2019 and 2021 for the week after the 600. pic.twitter.com/p7a2923YYX
Trucks Make Sonoma Return
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this weekend’s Truck Series race at Sonoma Raceway was an inaugural event for the series.
In fact, it’s a throwback. Saturday’s DoorDash 250 is the Truck Series’ first return trip to the road course since 1998.
The series has made four appearances at Sonoma Raceway from 1995 to ’98 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. winning the inaugural race. Dave Rezendes won the following year in 1996 and Joe Ruttman won in 1997. The last driver to win at Sonoma Raceway in the Truck Series was Boris Said in 1998.
None of the 39 drivers entered this weekend have made a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Sonoma Raceway, but eight of the drivers entered this weekend have made NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma — Todd Bodine, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon and Parker Kligerman.
“Rowdy” Tickets On Sale
You can now purchase tickets for the one-night only theatrical screenings of the Kyle Busch documentary, “Rowdy.”
In theaters on June 29, the 1 hour and 40 minute documentary shines a light on some of the most dramatic and controversial moments of Kyle Busch’s NASCAR career.
You can watch the trailer here.