NASCAR Sonoma Sunday, June 4, 2023
Sonoma Raceway NASCAR Cup Series Stats Highlights
2022 Sonoma
Daniel Suárez
2022 Sonoma winner – Started 8th, finished 17th in Stage 1 & 4th in Stage 2, 47 of final 50 laps led
Winner pit stops: Daniel Suárez (3 Stops – All green) 22, 53, 82
Top 5 Stage 1 & 2: Joey Logano 2nd & 1st, Aric Almirola 5th & 2nd
Best free pass finisher: Christopher Bell 27th
Best finisher with pit road speeding penalty: Tyler Reddick 35th (Only driver with pit road speeding penalty)
Best starting rear of field finisher: AJ Allmendinger 19th
Best Hendrick: Chase Elliott 8th
Best Gibbs: Martin Truex Jr. 26th
Best Stewart-Haas: Kevin Harvick 4th
Best Penske: Austin Cindric 5th
34th Sonoma race…first race 1989…Ricky Rudd winner…who was crew chief?
30-year-old Larry McReynolds!
Clint Bowyer 8 Sonoma top 5 finishes – 4th all-time (Jeff Gordon, Ricky Rudd & Rusty Wallace)
Most Sonoma wins: 5 Jeff Gordon
Most Sonoma wins active: 3 Martin Truex Jr.
Most Sonoma top 5 finishes active: 7 Kevin Harvick
Most Sonoma top 10 finishes active: 11 Kevin Harvick
Most Sonoma laps led active: 213 Martin Truex Jr. (2nd all-time to Jeff Gordon 457)
Most Sonoma laps led of winless drivers: 102 Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick 21 & Kyle Busch 17 running at finish every Sonoma race
Ryan Blaney: 3 Straight Sonoma top 10 finishes
21 Different winners in 33 NASCAR Cup Series Sonoma races
6 California drivers won 11 Sonoma races
2 Foreign-born drivers won Sonoma – Juan Pablo Montoya (2007) & Daniel Suárez (2022)
6 of last 7 Sonoma races won by drivers who have won championships
First Sonoma win for 11 of last 15 winners
Only win of season for 7 Sonoma winners
2 Scored first career win at Sonoma – Juan Pablo Montoya (2007) & Daniel Suárez (2022)
Martin Truex Jr. only repeat winner last 13 Sonoma races (3 Wins) – 10 Others 1 win each
Martin Truex Jr. won Sonoma with 3 different teams – Michael Waltrip Racing, Furniture Row Racing & Joe Gibbs Racing
Longest winless streaks ended at Sonoma:
Martin Truex Jr. 218 races (2013), Daniel Suarez 194 (2022), Tony Stewart 84 (2016) & Robby Gordon 51 (2003)
Kyle Larson is only driver to win Sonoma after winning previous race of season (2021 Charlotte & Sonoma winner)
2019 & ‘21 Carousel returned for first time since 1997 – 2022 No carousel
Only 1 winner from first starting position last 17 Sonoma races – Kyle Larson won 2021
Kyle Larson started first last 5 Sonoma races – Finished 26th, 14th, 10th, 1st & 15th
6 Sonoma races won from first starting position
9 of 33 Sonoma winners started outside top 10
10 of last 15 winners scored their first career road course win at Sonoma
17 Scored first win of season at Sonoma including 7 of last 11 winners
First win of season for 4 of last 7 Sonoma winners – Kyle Busch (’15), Stewart (’16), Harvick (’17) & Suárez (’22)
5 Won Sonoma & championship in same year –
’98 J. Gordon, ’05 Stewart, ’10 Johnson, ’15 Kyle Busch & ’21 Larson
Drivers in 30-35 age group won 18 Sonoma races (55%)
2 Won consecutive Sonoma races – Jeff Gordon (1998, ’99 & ’00) & Martin Truex Jr. (2018 & ’19)
Chevrolet leads all with 13 Sonoma wins
Leader of most laps won 22 of 33 Sonoma races
Worst finish by driver leading most laps: 37th Jeff Gordon 2002, AJ Allmendinger 2014 & Martin Truex Jr. 2017
Drivers starting in top 5 won 17 of 33 NASCAR Cup Series Sonoma races
Most laps led from start of Sonoma race: 37 – Jeff Gordon (1998)
Most laps led to Sonoma finish: 53 – Ricky Rudd (1989)
Martin Truex Jr. led most laps 3 of last 5 Sonoma races – Finished 37th in 2017 & Winner 2018 & ‘19
Martin Truex Jr. led most laps 4 of last 9 Sonoma races – 3 Wins
2 Won Sonoma in first try – Ricky Rudd 1989 & Juan Pablo Montoya 2007
Most tries before first Sonoma win – Kevin Harvick won in 17th try in 2017
Only 2 Rookie of the Years contenders finished top 5 in a Sonoma race –
Juan Pablo Montoya (2007 Winner) & Austin Cindric (5th in 2022)
Longest green flag run at Sonoma: 82 Laps 1-82 (2012)
Longest green flag run to finish Sonoma: 56 Laps (2018)
Final green run 9 laps or less 18 Sonoma races
4 Sonoma Overtime finishes – Leader at scheduled distance won all 4
18 States represented first Sonoma race in 1989 – 8 From California