Sonoma Raceway Pre-Race Thread

StandOnIt

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38 Cup entries Sonoma. 15-Grala 16-Allmendinger 33-Brown 60-Waters

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Yeah Brown is leading the Supercar points I believe. He is no stranger to road courses, but both of them aren't used to a Cup car. Good stuff.
 
Cam Waters in the #60 Ford, thrown into the deep end. Sink or swim.
Listen I’m last in the Pick Em Game. I don’t know who this Waters guy is but I’m open to suggestions. Let’s get Nuts
 
Cam Waters Truck record. 2 races in Nascar. Both on ovals Martinsville and Kansas. Doesn't prove much as he is a road racer and a Truck is a long way from a Supercar or a Cup car.
Will Brown has no Nascar experience what so ever.

Good road course ringers though IMO.
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New surface and a new tire …

Goodyear Fast Facts — Sonoma​

GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES
NASCAR Cup Series — Race No. 16 – 110 laps / 219 miles
Sonoma Raceway (1.99-mile road course) – Sonoma, Calif.
Fast Facts for June 8-9, 2024

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Road Course Radials

Set limits:
3 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 6 sets for the race
(5 race sets plus 1 set transferred from qualifying)

Tire Code: D-5252 (same on all four tire positions)

Tire Circumference: 2,276 mm (89.61 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 22 psi; Right Front — 20 psi;
Left Rear — 17 psi; Right Rear — 17 psi

Storyline – New track surface + new tire = more practice time at Sonoma: This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Sonoma Raceway for its first run on the freshly repaved road course. Goodyear held a tire test at the facility in March to get a gauge on the new surface. The result is a new tire for this weekend, which features increased tread thickness versus the tire that was run at Sonoma last season. Since the new surface will likely not wear tires much on its own, the thicker tread gage will keep more heat in the tire and lead to more lap-time fall-off over the course of a run. Cup teams will have a 50-minute practice with three sets of tires to prepare for the race.

“Whenever a facility is repaved, we like to get on track and hold a tire test before the event,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear director of racing. “We were able to test at Sonoma back in March and, based on all the data we accumulated and feedback we received, we decided to go back with a tire with more gage in the tread. Drivers commented that the tire had more grip and was more forgiving than the control tire with lighter gage. Of course, the additional rubber will hold more heat in the tire and should result in more fall-off. Lap-time fall-off adds to the potential for more passing later in a run, and that leads to a more competitive race. This being a new tire, along with the new surface, teams will be happy to have a full practice to help them hone in on their race set-ups.”

Notes – New Cup tire for repaved Sonoma: NASCAR Cup teams will run the same Goodyear tire code on all four corners of the car at Sonoma this weekend . . . being on an 18-inch bead diameter tire, Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity Series at Sonoma . . . this is a brand new tire for this track, and this is the first time it has been raced in competition . . . compared to Sonoma 2023, this tire features a construction update and more tread thickness to promote lap-time fall-off . . . this tire came out of a Goodyear test at Sonoma on March 26-27 . . . teams (drivers) participating in that test were the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet (Ross Chastain), No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (Josh Berry) and No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Martin Truex Jr.) . . . Cup teams are scheduled to run this tire again on the Chicago street course in July . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars do not run inner liners in any of their tires.

Wet Weather Tires – Goodyear brings white-lettered “wets” to Sonoma: Goodyear will bring its 18-inch wet weather radials to Sonoma for use by teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . Cup teams have a total of 6 sets of “wets” for the event . . . Cup teams last ran a wet weather tire in competition at Richmond in April . . . the tread pattern on this tire is based on Goodyear’s Eagle Supercar 3 consumer tire . . . in addition to the obvious difference of a tread pattern versus Goodyear’s dry weather “slick” tires, the “Goodyear” and “Eagle” lettering on the sidewalls of the wet weather tires is white, not the standard yellow.
 

Concord NC to Sonoma CA is a trip that those super deluxe sleepers make the long haul much more enjoyable for the drivers. SH must have really cared about their truck drivers over the years to spend that extra amount of expense for the custom sleepers for the extra comfort for their drivers. I had those sleepers back when the manufacturer was called Double Eagle and there was no comparison between the custom sleeper and a standard sleeper when it came to comfort and the overall appearance of the truck.
 
Christmas is almost here. Fly out Friday night for Sonoma. Clearly, Revman energy will bring MY Toyotas a win. Good for an extra 100 hp and 20 counts of downforce. Wind tunnel tested. Toyota approved. LFG. I love this ****.
 
Super excited to see what the repave brings....and hoping like crazy that the surface holds up. MTJ has been dominant here, but I think the repave will take away his drive off advantage....and his ability to manage tires better than everyone else. I think we will see the track favor the guys good on the brakes, and I don't think we will see the some of the faster qualifiers over the years fade like they once did. The Hendrick guys had figured this fall off thing out after we watched Byron and Larson qualify well there....but fade in the race. I think that guys like Reddick, Gibbs, Byron, Larson, and maybe even Hamlin race for the win. I throw Hamlin in there because he has been qualifying fast there, but not able to manage the race. Wondering if the new surface helps him with that. Should be very interesting. Was hoping to get there for Practice tomorrow, but work commitments delayed my departure....oh well.....I've got a nice sunset flight all lined up.
 
Don't sleep on Bell......
 
Family illness. Trip cancelled. Well ****. A win makes everything better. LFG.
Yeah, I missed Darlington for family health reasons. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and one thing ya gotta do is keep your priorities in order.

The old paper tickets were much easier to eat than these new-fangled virtual ones. :idunno:
 
This will be interesting. I liked the tires as it was fun to see them get moved around a bit and sometimes just flat out punted.
 
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