NASCAR Heads to Wine Country on Sunday: Your Preview for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing Track Preview - your weekly guide to what is happening this Sunday and who to watch. One race, the key facts, and a pick to win.
The Short Version
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Sonoma Raceway in California this Sunday for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Green flag drops at 3:30 PM ET on TNT. It is 110 laps around a twisty 1.99-mile road course through the Sonoma Mountains. The defending winner is Shane Van Gisbergen, a driver who basically owns road courses right now, and there is no reason to think anything has changed.
The Track: Why Sonoma Is Not Like Anything Else on the Schedule
Sonoma Raceway sits in the hills of northern California wine country, which sounds relaxing until you actually watch a Cup car try to navigate it. The track is a 1.99-mile road course with 12 turns and 160 feet of elevation change. That last part is what catches people off guard. This is not a flat parking-lot road course. Drivers are climbing and dropping throughout the lap, which changes braking points and puts different demands on the car through every section of the track.
The current NASCAR configuration uses what is called "the Chute" - a short straight that bypasses the old Turns 5 and 6, known as the Carousel. That change has made the track slightly more oval-driver-friendly than it used to be, but it is still a massive technical challenge compared to any oval on the Cup schedule.
For 2026, Sonoma runs under the short-track and road-course aero package. That means 750 horsepower - up from 670 in previous years - paired with a 3-inch rear spoiler and a simplified rear diffuser with fewer strakes. Less grip, more power. The cars slide more than they used to, and drivers who can manage a loose car through elevation changes will have an edge all day.
Sunday's race runs 110 laps for a total distance of roughly 218.9 miles. Stage 1 ends at lap 25, Stage 2 at lap 55, and the final stage runs the remaining 55 laps to the finish. Track position matters here - passing is genuinely hard at Sonoma - but stage cautions and pit strategy keep things interesting throughout the afternoon. Also worth noting: this race kicks off the 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge, adding a little extra stakes to the weekend.
Past Winners: What Sonoma History Tells Us
This track rewards road racing specialists and drivers with experience. Look at the last ten years of winners and a pattern emerges fast. Martin Truex Jr. won here in 2018, 2019, and 2023 to go along with two earlier wins - five total at Sonoma, the most by any active or recently retired driver. Kyle Larson added wins in 2021 and 2024. Shane Van Gisbergen arrived in full-time Cup competition and immediately dominated in 2025, leading 97 of 110 laps from pole position.
Daniel Suarez won here in 2022 as well, which was one of the bigger upsets of that era. Suarez is from Mexico, grew up road racing, and Sonoma fit his background perfectly. Kevin Harvick, not typically considered a road course guy, won in 2017 by surviving late chaos. And Tony Stewart, who came up through open-wheel and road racing, won his final Cup race here in 2016 before retiring.
One more data point worth noting: starting from the pole at Sonoma has produced seven race winners. Front-row starters account for nearly a third of all wins here. Track position is not everything at a road course, but getting it early at Sonoma pays off more than at most tracks on the schedule.
Storylines and Drivers to Watch
The championship race is tight heading into Sonoma. Tyler Reddick leads the 2026 standings with five wins, but Denny Hamlin is right on his bumper after a strong stretch that included back-to-back wins. Eight points separate them. Neither driver is an elite road course specialist, which opens the door for the track experts to shake up the points this week.
Shane Van Gisbergen is the obvious name. He has already won at Watkins Glen this year and has become the go-to pick at any road course on the schedule. Kyle Larson, who grew up nearby in Elk Grove, California, is a two-time Sonoma winner and finished third at the street course in San Diego last week - he is in strong form. Tyler Reddick has four career road course wins and was in contention at Coronado before a late incident knocked him out of a potential win.
Keep an eye on Christopher Bell, who tends to run well on road courses and will be looking to string together a strong finish. Ryan Blaney won at Phoenix earlier this year and is another driver who manages road courses well enough to sneak into the top five. And then there is Connor Zilisch - 19 years old, in his rookie Cup season, already known as one of the best road course drivers in the country. He was leading the Coronado race when he was collected in an incident. Sonoma is the kind of track that could put him in victory lane for the first time.
My Pick to Win
Shane Van Gisbergen. This pick is not complicated. He won here last year from pole, led 97 of 110 laps, and has already won a road course race in 2026. He is the best road course driver in NASCAR right now by a wide margin. If he qualifies up front - and he usually does at tracks like this - it is going to take a mistake or a bad pit call to get him out of it. The track suits his driving style perfectly, and defending a win at a road course you have already mastered is not the same challenge as winning for the first time.
Sleeper pick: Connor Zilisch. He has the ability. He just needs one clean race on the right track. Sonoma could be it.
The Bottom Line
Sonoma is one of the most visually interesting races of the year - cars climbing hills, braking hard into hairpins, and battling for position in spots where there is almost no room to make a move. If you are going to watch one race this summer just to see what Cup cars can do when you take away the oval, this is a good one to pick. Green flag is Sunday at 3:30 PM ET on TNT.
If you are riding with Van Gisbergen this weekend, we have you covered. His 2026 Watkins Glen winner tee is in stock, and so is the Sonoma Xfinity back-to-back winner shirt from 2024. Larson fans can grab the 2024 Save Mart 350 Sonoma win tee. And if you want Blaney gear, his 2026 schedule shirt is available. Want a surprise every month instead? Check out the Winners Circle shirt subscription - a new winner tee after every race, shipped to your door.
