The NASCAR Cup Series heads to road course number three on the 2021 schedule, Sonoma Raceway. The 226-mile, 90 lap race will be split into stages of 20-20-50 with a competition caution at lap 10. After his record-breaking win at Charlotte last weekend, Kyle Larson will be on the pole. The green flag will drop at 4:15 pm ET on FS1. Here is the rest of the Sonoma preview!
Race Lineup
The weekend is off to a great start for the No. 5 car! @KyleLarsonRacin earns the #BuschPole for @RaceSonoma. pic.twitter.com/e7HJ0J1XLy
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 2, 2021
Kyle Larson and fellow Hendrick teammate, Chase Elliott, will be on row one. Row two will have William Byron and Denny Hamlin with Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon behind them in row three. Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick will be in the fourth row. Brad Keselowski and Tyler Reddick will round out the top ten. Two drivers that will start near the back of the field due to mechanical failures last weekend are Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch. They will be in 29th and 30th for the green flag.
My Picks
It’s safe to say that Hendrick Motorsports has been red-hot as of late. After last weekend, Hendrick now holds the most wins all-time for team owners with 269 wins, passing Petty Enterprises. Naturally, the driver to pick for this weekend would be Chase Elliott. He has won six of the last eleven road course races, one of those being at the Circuit of the Americas this year. Sonoma is the only road course that NASCAR has raced at before that he hasn’t won, and I’m sure that he is looking to add it to his list.
If I had to pick anyone else to win I’d choose Martin Truex Jr. He won there in 2018 and the last time NASCAR went there in 2019, why not 2021? Not to mention that it seems like the Gibbs cars are one of the only other teams that have the speed to take on Hendrick right now. I mean Kyle Busch was the only person that kept Hendrick from getting another 1-2-3-4 finish last weekend. It’s definitely going to be a good race this Sunday.
Thank you for reading this article! If you liked it and want to read more, check out the racing page! Also, don’t forget to follow BellyUpSports, BellyUpRacing, and myself on Twitter!
