The Cup Series will travel to Sonoma Raceway for the second consecutive race on a road course. This is also the final road course race on the schedule now that the Charlotte Roval has been turned into the Charlotte Oval once again. There are only nine races left in the Fantasy Live season. We need the maximum amount of points each week to climb into the top of our league standings. It all starts at Sonoma… The Toyota / Save Mart 350 can be seen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT (Yes, the Cup Series coverage switches from Prime Video to TNT Sunday, so make sure you are on the correct channel).
STRATEGY FOR SONOMA
The strategy for the road course race at Sonoma is the same as the strategy for the other road course races on the schedule. We need to save our allocations with our top drivers (Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson) and take a chance with the road course aces (Shane van Gisbergen, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Connor Zilisch and Daniel Suarez).
Here are the picks for the race at Sonoma Raceway…
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN (8): SVG crashed last week and ended up in the Fantasy Live Garage. I would not bet on that happening this week at Sonoma. SVG smoked the filed in wine country last year. He won the pole, led 97 of the 110 laps, scored 19 Stage Points and SVG won the race. Do not try to be cute and fade the No. 97 car Sunday. Simply click on SVG’s name and move onto the next pick.
TY GIBBS (3): Gibbs has been one of the best road course racers over the last year. He finished 4th at COTA and 3rd at Watkins Glen. The race at the base did not go his way last week, but Gibbs should bounce back at Sonoma. He finished 7th in wine country last year. I expect Gibbs to score a lot of points for your Fantasy Live lineup from the pole.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL (7): McDowell is one of the best road course drivers in the Cup Series and Sonoma is one of his best tracks. He finished 3rd, 7th, 2nd and 4th in his four races in the Gen-7 car at Sonoma. He also has a streak of five consecutive top-five finishes on the road courses going. McDowell should be a safe pick for your Fantasy Live lineup Sunday.
CHASE BRISCOE (5): Briscoe was awesome at Sonoma last year. He scored 15 Stage Points and finished second. The No. 19 car is always good at this track. Martin Truex Jr. used to dominated at Sonoma and now it is Briscoe’s turn. He posted the 8th fastest speed in practice and the No. 19 car quailed 7th for the race. Briscoe should score some Stage Points and finish in the top-10 Sunday.
AJ ALLMENDINGER (9): This is the last road course on the schedule, so it is our last good chance to get a quality start out of Allmendinger in our Driver Group Game lineups. Allmendinger finished 9th at COTA, 7th at Watkins Glen and 5th at Navy Base Coronado. If the trend continues, Allmendinger should finish 3rd at Sonoma Sunday. The No. 16 car is just too fast on the road courses to fade right now.
(GARAGE PICK) TYLER REDDICK (4): I didn’t use Reddick last week, so now I have an extra allocation with the No. 45 car. Reddick is one of the best road course drivers in the Cup Series. He could easily have won two of the road courses this year. He needs as many points as possible to stay ahead of Denny Hamlin in the season-long standings. I expect a lot of Stage Points and a top-10 finish from Reddick Sunday. Reddick is a good insurance policy to have in the Garage at Sonoma.
- I wish I had more starts left with KYLE LARSON. He would be my pick over AJ ALLMENDINGER if I had four or more allocations with the No. 5 car.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.