Ganassi drivers fill front row at Sonoma
Fox Chapel’s Chip Ganassi likes winners, and his drivers have him in prime position to celebrate another victory.
Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray swept the front row in Saturday qualifying at Sonoma Raceway to give Chip Ganassi Racing a 1-2 start on the wine country road course.
Larson turned a lap at 95.295 mph Saturday and just nipped his teammate, who ran his qualifying lap at 95.204 in the Ganassi Chevrolet. McMurray is seeking his first win of the season.
Larson is coming off a Cup win last week at Michigan — where he also started from the pole — and is looking to make it two consecutive wins. In fact, Larson is on an incredible hot streak and, including his sprint car races, has four total wins in the last two weeks.
“The whole lap actually felt pretty bad,” he said. “I felt like I gave up enough there that I wouldn’t have a shot at the pole. So, I was surprised and I was happy about that. Jamie is always really good when we come to road courses. Especially when it comes to qualifying here at Sonoma. It was a big deal there to beat Jamie there in qualifying.
“Hopefully, we can be onetwo in the race as well.”
Larson planned to be a spectator Saturday night at Calistoga Speedway, where best friend Rico Abreu was hosing a charity sprint car race that featured Abreu, Tony Stewart and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. As much as he wished he could get out and play with his friends in the dirt, the focus is Sunday for the Monster Energy Series points leader.
“This is cool to get a pole on a road course at my home state. This is my closest track to Sacramento, or Elk Grove, where I grew up. I have lots of friends and family here, we’re going to celebrate with the team, and then we’re going to head out to Calistoga and go watch some Sprint Car racing. So, I’m excited about that.”
McMurray noted that Ganassi had left Sonoma to return to the IndyCar event in Wisconsin, but the car owner would be reaching out to his drivers shortly.
“Kyle just got a little bit more. I thought he was going to give it back to me in Turn 11,” McMurray said. “That team’s been on a roll and our whole Chip Ganassi Racing team has been pretty awesome this year. I know Chip went back to Road America today and I’ll be getting a phone call soon. He’ll be pretty pumped.”
Xfinity
Rookie William Byron grabbed the lead with just over 20 laps and won at Iowa Speedway for his first series victory.
A seven-time winner last year in the Truck Series, Byron broke through just a week after an agonizingly close loss to Denny Hamlin at Michigan.
Ryan Sieg was second in the stand-alone race, which had no Monster Energy Cup regulars in the field. Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Ross Chastain and Dakoda Armstrong.
IndyCar
Team Penske will have a stranglehold on the first two rows of the IndyCar race at Road America.
Helio Castroneves won the pole at qualifying Saturday, turning in a lap time of 1:41.30. It was his 50th career pole, and third of the season.
Castroneves beat out teammate Will Power by 0.06 seconds to take the pole. Power won the 2016 race at the rural Wisconsin road course.
Formula One
Lewis Hamilton moved to second on the all-time list for F1 pole positions when he used a brilliant late surge to beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Bottas led qualifying and set an even quicker time on his final lap, only for Hamilton to beat him by nearly half a second.
The British driver’s 66th pole moved him one ahead of Ayrton Senna and just two behind Michael Schumacher’s record of 68. Also Sunday
Race: Kohler Grand Prix IndyCar race, Elkhart Lake, Wis. When: Noon. TV: NBC Sports Network. Points leaders: Scott Dixon (326) leads Simon Pagenaud by 13, Tauma Sato by 14 and Helio Castroneves by 21.
Of note: With his win in Texas, Will Power moved into a tie for ninth all time in series wins (31).