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Though Jeff Gordon wears the crown as ‘Homecoming King,’ two other local drivers can upend him in Sonoma – Kyle Larson, from Elk Grove, and AJ Allmendinger from Los Gatos. Larson, the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year, finished 28th in his lone Sonoma start, last season. Allmendinger has two top 10s at Sonoma, and won last year’s Watkins Glen race – the second of two NSCS road-course races.

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The Final Lap Weekly Podcast LogoSHOW #364 – Guest: Ryan Blaney – We recap the Trucks in Iowa, XFinity at Chicagoland, Cup off weekend, Kasey “Big Daddy” Kahne, Microsoft inks with Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon visits first racetrack, Danica wears bikini, plus a full Sonoma Raceway preview. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie

( Roughly 48:00 mins)

Continue reading “The Final Lap Weekly #364 Ryan Blaney – Sonoma Raceway Preview”

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Tappin’ The Rockies In Wine Country: McMurray Goes For Another Sonoma Coors Light Pole
Most people visit Sonoma for the wine.

Jamie McMurray prefers its Coors Light (Pole Award, anyway).

The No. 1 Chevrolet driver has won the last two Coors Light Pole Awards at Sonoma Raceway. His 2007 Sonoma pole gives him three for his career at the West Coast road course.

McMurray turned last year’s pole into a fourth-place finish. Otherwise, he hasn’t done well at Sonoma. His only other top-10 finish there was a runner-up showing in 2004.

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For 12 consecutive years, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has held the title of “NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver.” As of a week ago, he now has a new one: ‘fiancé.’

Earnhardt proposed to his girlfriend Amy while on a vacation in Germany (spoiler alert: she said yes), and sealed the deal with a shiny engagement ring. The circular ring is meant to be a symbol of eternity. So it’s odd timing that Earnhardt now heads to one of the few NASCAR tracks that isn’t a circle – Sonoma Raceway.

It took a while, but Earnhardt might finally love Sonoma as much as Amy. After 15 starts, he got his first top-10 finish at Sonoma last year, a third-place result. Still, his average Sonoma finish of 20.3 makes the track tied with Homestead for his second worst, behind only Watkins Glen (22.4), the other road course track in the series.

Earnhardt has all but locked up a spot in this year’s Chase thanks to a win at Talladega, and now aims to grow his Chase bonus points total. All 16 Chase drivers will have their points reset to 2,000 to start the Chase, with three additional bonus points added for each win in the regular season.

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Northern California is about to witness the end of an era.

Native son Jeff Gordon, born in Vallejo, California, will make his final start at Sonoma Raceway – a track he has dominated during his career – in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. In all, Gordon has finished third or better in 13 of his 22 starts at Sonoma.

Still, Gordon has not visited Victory Lane at the 12-turn loop since 2006, but boasts the track record for wins (5), Coors Light Pole Awards (5), average finish (7.9), top fives (14), top 10s (18) and laps led (457).

Here is a list of drivers second in each category for comparison: wins (four drivers, 2), Coors Light Pole Awards (Ricky Rudd, 4), average finish (Dale Earnhardt, 8.4), top fives (Ricky Rudd, 10), tops 10s (Mark Martin, 13), laps led (Rusty Wallace, 171).

Gordon stands as NASCAR’s all-time leader in road course wins with nine.