The NASCAR Cup Series will stay in California this week for another road course race. This time the Cup Series will compete at Sonoma Raceway. This is the most technical of the road course tracks on the schedule. Shane van Gisbergen destroyed the field last year at Sonoma. He led 97 of the 110 laps and went to Victory Lane. Will the race this weekend turn into “The SVG Show”? I wouldn’t bet against it. The Toyota / Save Mart 350 can be seen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT. (Yes, the TV coverage switches from Prime Video to TNT, so make sure you are on the right channel Sunday.
Here are my Fantasy NASCAR picks for the race at Sonoma Raceway this weekend…
DRIVER GROUP GAME
GROUP A: SHANE VAN GISBERGEN (6): 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.
GROUP B: TY GIBBS (5): 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 from the pole Sunday.
GROUP B: 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.
GROUP C: AJ ALLMENDINGER (5): 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.
SPEEDWAY COLLECTIVE
FANTRAX
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