Sonoma Raceway this weekend delivered an entertaining NASCAR product to say the very least. Eight cautions in the first stage, with wrecks, and engine failures, and then a clean and uninterrupted race in the final stage which saw strategy played at its finest. Some drivers excelled, and some teams got buried. It was a quality race from a course that had just undergone a repave. But, there’s still business to attend to. Let’s go over who shined and didn’t cut it in wine country. Here is this week’s edition of NASCAR “Three Up, Three Down”!
Three Up
#7 Corey Lajoie
Embed from Getty ImagesCorey Lajoie has been getting outshined by his teammate Carson Hocevar so badly, I almost kind of forgot he existed. But he goes ahead and puts together his third T-12 performance of the year with P11 at Sonoma Raceway as well as a P9 finish in stage one of this race. You have to give flowers to good performances from regularly just “meh” or slow drivers. Lajoie has earned a golf clap and a hat tip for coming through at Sonoma and even overcoming being involved in an earlier accident. I don’t think the #7 car will be in the mix regularly moving forward. But it’s nice to see different drivers running at the top.
#17 Chris Buescher
Embed from Getty ImagesAt the end of the day, strategy got the best of Chris Buescher. He couldn’t hold off Martin Truex Jr or Kyle Larson any longer, but he had a damn good race at Sonoma, just as I predicted. The #17 car had speed. They led a decent amount of laps and hung in there for most of the race. They finish P3, with a stage two win leading 32 laps. They’re right on the playoff bubble and they’re moving in the right direction to get Buescher and this car into victory lane and the post-season at some point. They’ll look to build on this momentum and continue to make strides in the NASCAR playoff standings and optimally secure a win.
#34 Michael McDowell
Embed from Getty ImagesEver since the disastrous block at Talladega that cost him a potential win, McDowell has been quiet. Not bad necessarily. He posted two top-ten finishes and led 46 laps in the two races before this weekend. Then this weekend he put up his first top-five finish at P2. He also collected P6 in the first stage. He won’t be driving for Front Row Motorsports next year after signing a contract with Spire earlier this spring. But it looks like he’ll be hanging around trying to collect great finishes in his final season with this team.
Three Down
#2 Austin Cindric
Embed from Getty ImagesAustin Cindric wasn’t able to make it two wins in a row and showcase speed like he did in Gateway last weekend. But that wasn’t all his fault. He was involved in two accidents, one of which sent him into the dirt and airborne. But Cindric remains to be one of the better road course racers in NASCAR and opportunities like this don’t come around often. He’ll be locked into the playoffs and will be an underdog when it comes. But I’m sure P22 and just 15 points on the day wasn’t what anybody was hoping for from Sonoma.
#10 Noah Gragson
Embed from Getty ImagesAll of Stewart-Haas Racing is now auditioning for new jobs in 2025. We’ve talked about just how much the rest of the season means to so many folks. And their most inspiring driver this season has been the young Noah Gragson and the #10 team. After almost being out of the Cup Series altogether in 2023, SHR gave him a second chance and he’s shown flashes of greatness. Sonoma was a break from the regularly scheduled impressiveness he’s had all year. He started P19, got involved in the wreck above that sent both him and Austin Cindric into the dirt and came home with P26. His teammates Josh Berry and Chase Briscoe both collected DNFs and Ryan Preece, despite being the weakest driver, finished P18. Not a great day for SHR. The whole team could’ve been on the down, but we don’t beat dead horses around here. Gragson and the #10 team will have plenty of chances down the line to make things right, and we’ll see how they do at Iowa next weekend.
#24 William Byron
Embed from Getty ImagesA rare day from the #24 where they just didn’t have the speed. They qualified P6 and had the opportunity to take a giant leap. Byron has even showcased his ability to be a top road course driver in all of NASCAR. He’d won two of the last three road courses and was close to making it all three at the Roval last fall. But he finished P30. The image above may have something to do with that. But it was a down day for the otherwise elite car. They’ll look to bounce back at Iowa this weekend.
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