The NASCAR Xfinity Series stays on the west coast for a second week of road course racing. Will Sonoma repeat the wild finish from Portland?
Cole Custer survived the late race chaos last week in Portland for his first Xfinity Series win of the season. After dropping through the field after a mistake on a restart, Custer drove back into the top five. On an overtime restart, Parker Kligerman went wide on an overtake attempt into Turn 1, clearing out the first row of cars. Custer snuck through the mess and held off a charging Justin Allgaier in the closing laps. The win was the first of Custer’s career on a road course, a stat that bodes well as the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Sonoma.
The Track
For the first time ever, the NASCAR Xfinity Series visits Sonoma Raceway. The track has been on the Cup Series schedule since 1989, where it was one of only two road courses for decades. Sonoma is not the fastest road course but makes up for that with extremely technical sections. While the track has lots of elevation changes, most of the corners are flat, making it difficult to find grip. Staying on the track and out of the dirt is the goal, but that’s a lot easier said than done. NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers face a tough test when they roll into Sonoma Raceway this weekend.
Prediction
Eight drivers will be pulling double duty, racing in the Xfinity and Cup Series races at Sonoma. The favorite amongst those drivers is going to be A.J. Allmendinger as he usually is at road courses in the Xfinity Series. This week, however, Allmendinger faces an equal challenger in Kyle Larson. The DoorDash 250 could be a two-horse race between the two drivers but the entry list includes a few other realistic options as well. Sheldon Creed came close to making Portland’s prediction come true. Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier, the two most recent winners, finished first and second in last week’s road course race. All three have a chance to upset the Cup Series stars but at the end of the day, Kyle Larson will be too difficult to overcome. Larson has already visited victory lane in a sprint car this week, and he’ll do the same at Sonoma in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
How To Watch – DoorDash 250 (All times EST)
- Practice: Friday, June 9, 4:05 p.m. on FS1
- Qualifying: Saturday, June 10, 3 p.m. on FS1
- DoorDash 250: Saturday, June 10, 8 p.m. on FS1
