Background

Layout of Sonoma Raceway, the track where the race was held.

Sonoma Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway and Infineon Raceway is a 2.52-mile (4.06 km) road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains in Sonoma, California, USA. The road course features 12 turns on a hilly course with 160 feet (49 m) of total elevation change. It is host to one of only three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races each year that are run on road courses (the others being Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York and the road course layout for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway). It is also host to the Verizon IndyCar Series and several other auto races and motorcycle races such as the American Federation of Motorcyclists series. Sonoma Raceway continues to host amateur, or club racing events which may or may not be open to the general public. The largest such car club is the Sports Car Club of America.

First practice

Clint Bowyer was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 76.547 seconds and a speed of 93.590 mph (150.619 km/h).^[11]

Final practice

Kurt Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 76.163 seconds and a speed of 94.061 mph (151.377 km/h).^[12]

Qualifying results

Stage Results

Stage 1 Laps: 25

Stage 2 Laps: 25

Final Stage Results

Stage 3 Laps: 60

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 7 among different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 3 for 8
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 38 minutes and 28 seconds
• Average speed: 82.882 miles per hour (133.386 km/h)

Television

Fox NASCAR televised the race in the United States on FS1 for the fourth consecutive year. Mike Joy was the lap-by-lap announcer, while six-time Sonoma winner Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip were the color commentators. Jamie Little, Regan Smith and Matt Yocum reported from pit lane during the race. This is also Fox Sports' last Cup race for their portion of the season as NBC Sports takes over NASCAR broadcasts for the rest of the season.

Radio

Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by Performance Racing Network. PRN's broadcast of the race was simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow announced the race in the booth while the field was racing on the pit straight. Pat Patterson called the race from a stand outside of turn 2 when the field was racing up turns 2, 3 and 3a. Brad Gillie called the race from a stand outside of turn 7a when the field was racing through turns 4a and 7a. The field came back into the view of the booth in turns 8 and 9. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard outside turn 11 when the field was racing through turns 10 and 11. Heather DeBeaux, Brett McMillan and Jim Noble reported from pit lane during the race.