Toyota / Save Mart 350

Sonoma Raceway is a different kind of road course: 12 turns across 1.99 miles of rolling Northern California wine country, with elevation changes that feel more like a motocross track than a Cup stop. The configuration winds through the Carneros region with heavy braking into Turn 11's hairpin, high-commitment esses, and a blind crest at the top of the hill that separates the brave from the cautious. Cup stock cars have raced here since 1989, and the event has produced some of the best road course drivers in series history: Jeff Gordon won five times at Sonoma, Tony Stewart three, and Kyle Larson broke through with a dominant 2021 win that signaled his championship-season form. The track is narrow, passing zones are limited, and tire strategy over 110 laps often comes down to stretching fuel or pitting early for a short final run. The modern Cup field has produced several new road course aces (Ross Chastain, William Byron, and Chris Buescher all contending in recent years), making Sonoma a strategic puzzle where one bad restart can cost 10 positions and one patient lap can turn a race around.