Truex excited to hit Sonoma course
2017 series champ likes odd challenge
SAN FRANCISCO – For so many years, and for so many NASCAR drivers, road-course racing was largely a nuisance, an inconvenient detour for a sport built on eternal left turns and oval tracks.
Now, so much is different. The two road races on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule — Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1) at Sonoma Raceway in California wine country and in August at Watkins Glen International in New York — are among the long season’s highlights, and most drivers look forward to leftand-right racing both for the challenge and the opportunity.
There’s also an additional foray into the field this year as Charlotte Motor Speedway’s fall race will be run on the track’s combined oval and road course – the so-called roval.
Martin Truex Jr., last year’s series champion, has won at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen and said Thursday that he enjoys the odd challenges of road course racing, particularly at Sonoma.
“It’s an unbelievable racetrack,” Truex said at an appearance in San Francisco. “I love coming out there. I love road course racing. I look forward to that challenge and to see if we can get our second win here.”
Truex described Sonoma as the “short track” of NASCAR road courses and Watkins Glen as the “speedway” track. “Sonoma has a lot of elevation changes, a lot of slow corners and the tires wear out,” he said. “Drivers can make a huge difference at this racetrack.”
Truex won the 2013 Cup race over Sonoma’s 1.99-mile, 11-turn circuit.
NASCAR announced Thursday that it will not return this season to the new aerodynamic/restrictor plate package it experimented with during the All-Star Race at Charlotte last month.
Officials said work will continue on the package with the idea of possibly using it next season.
“We need to do some more testing before we roll it out and make sure it’s right,” Truex said. “I felt like at Charlotte it was probably too easy to drive, plain and simple. It’s the Cup series. These cars need to be hard to drive. The driver needs to be able to make a difference. We need to keep that in mind.”
After an off weekend, Sonoma begins an 11-race run to the end of the series’ regular season. Across that stretch of racing, drivers will encounter a daunting spectrum of tracks — two road courses, a return to Daytona International Speedway, intermediate tracks as different as Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway and the ultimate tough test in Darlington Raceway.
It’s thousands of miles of “bad road.” Of particular interest in the weeks leading to the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin Sept. 16 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will be the opportunity for other drivers to break a pattern that has seen Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Truex carrying the big stick for much of the season. Clint Bowyer threw his hat into the “big dog” ring two weeks ago at Michigan, becoming the fourth driver to win multiple races this year.
Only six drivers have scored victories in the first 15 events, a result that, if not modified, will lead to numerous drivers earning playoff spots based on points.
There is a surprisingly long list of non-winning drivers as the season reaches race No. 16. Included in the 0for-2018 bunch are seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, 2012 champ Brad Keselowski, 2004 champ Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray and Aric Almirola.
Kyle Busch, Harvick and Truex will carry favorites’ listing into Sunday’s race, but the unique nature of road racing makes predictions difficult. Among the somewhat-under-the-radar drivers will be Kurt Busch, who has the most top-five finishes at road courses — 10 — among active drivers.
The summer stretch offers teams with wins the chance to experiment and fine-tune their setups minus the pressure of needing victories to join the playoffs.