5 KYLE LARSON
 

Age: 32 (July 31, 1992)
 

Hometown: Elk Grove, California
 

Last Week: 13th (Chicago Street Course)
 

Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
 

Standings: 3rd
 
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No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
 

 

 

2025

 

Cup Career

 

Sonoma

Races

19

 

385

 

10

Wins

3

 

32

 

2

Poles

1

 

22

 

4

Top 5

9

 

128

 

2

Top 10

12

 

194

 

4

Laps Led

851

 

10,107

 

113

Stage Wins

8

 

70

 

3

Average Finish

12.7

 

14.0

 

13.0

 

Kyle Larson comes home to race at Sonoma Raceway. The Elk Grove, California, native grew up approximately 80 miles from the raceway.
Larson ranks second among active drivers with the most NASCAR Cup Series road course wins (six). Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott is the only driver with more (seven).
The 32-year-old is tied for the most road course wins in the Next Gen era with three.
Larson is tied for the second-most poles at Sonoma (four), trailing only Jeff Gordon (five)
The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy has the best average all-time starting position (3.8) at Sonoma in 10 starts.
Larson and Denny Hamlin lead all drivers with nine top-five finishes in 2025.
Larson is ranked third in the points standings just 19 points behind teammate William Byron. He is projected first in the playoff standings.

 

 
9 CHASE ELLIOTT
 

Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
 

Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
 

Last week: 16th (Chicago Street Course)
 

Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
 

Standings: 2nd
 
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No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
 

 

 

2025

 

Cup Career

 

Sonoma

Races

19

 

341

 

8

Wins

1

 

19

 

0

Poles

0

 

12

 

0

Top 5

6

 

110

 

4

Top 10

10

 

181

 

6

Laps Led

136

 

5,662

 

52

Stage Wins

0

 

38

 

0

Average Finish

10.6

 

12.8

 

11.1

 

Heading to Sonoma Raceway this weekend, Chase Elliott is second in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season points standings, 13 markers behind teammate William Byron.
Making his 341st Cup Series start last weekend at the Chicago Street Course, Elliott surpassed Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the driver with the fourth-most starts for Hendrick Motorsports.
Elliott’s average finish of 10.58 in 2025 leads the series and is also his second best all-time through a season’s first 19 races. He is the only driver to finish in the top 20 in every event so far. It’s the second straight season he’s headed into the 20th event having completed all but one lap.
The Dawsonville, Georgia, native has scored more points (155) than any other driver over the last four races. His average finish of 6.3 in that span is also tops.
Elliott has four consecutive top-10 finishes at Sonoma, tied for the longest active streak. He’s won at five road courses in his career, most of all drivers, but is still looking for his first win on the Napa Valley road course. He’s led laps in each of the last five Sonoma Cup Series events, tied for the record.
The 2020 Cup Series champion has the most road course wins among active drivers (seven) and the third all-time behind NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight). His average finish of 9.03 leads active drivers (minimum four starts).
In the Next Gen era on road courses, Elliott leads the series in top-five finishes (10), and his 12 top 10s are third most. His 147 laps led rank third and 610 points earned rank second.

 

 
24 WILLIAM BYRON
 

Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
 

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
 

Last Week: 40th (Chicago Street Course)
 

Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
 

Standings: 1st
 
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No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet
 

 

 

2025

 

Cup Career

 

Sonoma

Races

19

 

271

 

6

Wins

1

 

14

 

0

Poles

2

 

15

 

0

Top 5

7

 

61

 

0

Top 10

10

 

114

 

1

Laps Led

769

 

3,747

 

26

Stage Wins

7

 

30

 

1

Average Finish

14.2

 

15.1

 

22.0

 

William Byron is in the midst of a career year, leading the NASCAR Cup Series points standings for 16 out of 19 weeks, including presently by 13 markers.
Through the same stretch of 19 races, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has paced the field for 769 laps across 13 events, the most races with a lap led by a driver and second most laps total.
In the Next Gen era on road courses, Byron has two wins (fifth most), 138 laps led (fourth most) and has collected 542 points.
In the last 10 road course races, the 27-year-old has two wins, five top-five finishes and seven top 10s, all tied for the most. He also has led 110 laps in that same span, tied for the second most.

 

 
48 ALEX BOWMAN
 

Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
 

Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
 

Last Week: 8th (Chicago Street Course)
 

Crew Chief: Blake Harris
 

Standings: 10th
 
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No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
 

 

 

2025

 

Cup Career

 

Sonoma

Races

19

 

344

 

8

Wins

0

 

8

 

0

Poles

2

 

7

 

0

Top 5

4

 

44

 

0

Top 10

10

 

106

 

2

Laps Led

157

 

1,525

 

0

Stage Wins

0

 

7

 

0

Average Finish

17.4

 

19.2

 

17.3

 

Alex Bowman sits 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings, holding a 39-point cushion above the elimination point.
The Tucson, Arizona, native has finished inside the top 10 in each of the last three road course races in 2025, making him one of only two drivers to do so.
Bowman’s average finish on road courses in 2025 is seventh, which ranks second among full-time drivers.
Bowman’s best finish across eight starts at Sonoma Raceway is ninth, achieved twice (2018, 2021).
In the Next Gen era, Bowman has accumulated six top-five finishes and nine top 10s on road courses.
With his eighth-place finish at Chicago, Bowman advanced to the third round of the NASCAR In-Season Tournament and will compete against Ty Dillon.
For this weekend’s Sonoma race, the Best Friends Animal shelter partner Friends of Upland Animal Shelter, in Sonoma, California.
Ally and HendrickCars.com are teaming up again to give fans the chance to win prizes with this year’s “Open Road Sweepstakes.” Fans can win VIP experiences at various races throughout the season and one lucky winner will hit the open road in a Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss with an Airstream camper. Fans can stop by the Ally Fan Zone to enter the sweepstakes in-person and check out the camper. Fans can also enter at ally.com/sweepstakes/nascar.

 

 
HENDRICK
MOTORSPORTS /
Hendrick Motorsports
 

 

2025

 

All-Time

 

Sonoma

Races

18

 

1,400

 

35

Wins

5

 

317*

 

8*

Poles

5

 

258*

 

10*

Top 5

26*

 

1,305*

 

36*

Top 10

42*

 

2,229*

 

63*

Laps Led

1,913*

 

84,225*

 

830*

Stage Wins

15*

 

130

 

5*

 
*Most all time
**Tied for most all time

With Alex Bowman’s eighth-place run at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports remains the only organization to place at least one car in the top 10 of every event in 2025. That streak goes back 27 events to last season, the longest such run of any team in the Next Gen era.
The Hendrick Motorsports engine shop has won 15 combined poles (seven in the NASCAR Cup Series and eight in the Xfinity Series) and 16 combined races (five in the Cup Series, 10 in the Xfinity Series and the preseason Clash) this year. Its 39 victories in regular season Cup Series events are the most in the Next Gen era.
Hendrick Motorsports has led 1,913 laps through 19 events this year, accounting for 40% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and more than any other team by 953.
Hendrick Motorsports enters this weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway as the all-time leader in wins (eight), poles (10), top fives (36), top 10s (63) laps led (830) and stage wins (five).
Five of the last 10 road course races have gone to Hendrick Motorsports with Bowman, Kyle Larson (twice) and William Byron (twice) all winning in that span. Larson is the defending winner at Sonoma Raceway.

 

 
QUOTABLE /
 

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on racing in his home state of California: “It’s always special to go back home. I love having friends and family at the track, especially the friends that don’t typically get to go to the track. We have dominated there in the past – hopefully we’ll be just as good and catch Jeff Gordon (on Sonoma Raceway’s all-time wins list). It will feel hotter in Sonoma with the race being in July. The pavement will be a little bit slicker. I personally prefer the race to be in July, more enjoyable for everyone that comes into town and experience Napa (California).”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on Sonoma Raceway: “Sonoma is a track I always enjoy going to. Last year, I thought that we had really good pace, and our road course program this season has been strong, so that gives me confidence heading into this weekend. This entire stretch of races coming up, really, I think could be good for us. We’re within reach of the regular season championship, so running well and maximizing points is going to be really important.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on the team as it heads to Sonoma Raceway: “It’s been a rough couple weeks for our No. 24 team. We can’t get down though. We’ve been fast at every track and just had something, both in and out of our control, happen. Hopefully this weekend can just be a smooth one so we can get back in the groove we were in. I know everyone on the team has the same mindset, and no one is giving up.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on Sonoma Raceway: “Sonoma’s one of those places that really challenges you as a driver. It’s technical, it’s physical, and every lap you’re just trying to stay mistake-free. We are coming off of a solid race from Chicago. I feel like we got our bad luck out of the way and need to be consistent here on out to make sure that we stay off the cutoff line. We’re a team capable of winning it just hasn’t been in the cards for us yet.”

HMS PR

After finishing in second place at Darlington Raceway back in April, Chase Elliott returned to the NASCAR Xfinity Series behind the wheel of the No. 17 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, the team for which he competes full-time in the Cup Series, at Pocono Raceway a few weeks ago.

He finished in fourth place after trouble and contact with Justin Allgaier on a late restart ultimately knocked him from the lead. As it turns out, the No. 17 car was taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, and Rick Hendrick’s team ended up being slapped with several hefty penalties due to a technical infraction.

The No. 17 Chevrolet hasn’t been back since, and Elliott does not have any plans to drive it throughout the remainder of the 2025 season. But this weekend, it is set to return, and it’s the driver with the most starts behind the wheel of the car so far this year who is set to drive it once again.

Corey Day is set to replace Elliott for this Saturday afternoon’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway.

The 19-year-old Clovis, California native has made three starts so far this season. He made his Xfinity Series debut at Martinsville Speedway and finished in 21st place, and he added finishes of 16th at Texas Motor Speedway and 11th at Nashville Superspeedway.

Day is effectively set to become the car’s primary driver moving forward, even though he won’t compete every weekend.

In addition to this weekend’s 79-lap race around the 12-turn, 1.99-mile (3.203-kilometer) Sonoma, California road course, he is set to drive the No. 17 entry in the upcoming race at Iowa Speedway, plus the playoff races at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway.

Rajah Caruth and Jake Finch are expected to drive the car at some point before the season ends as well, but schedules have not yet been confirmed for either one of them.

William Byron and Kyle Larson have each driven the No. 17 Chevrolet twice this year, like Elliott, and Alex Bowman has driven it once. Nobody else is currently lined up to drive it later this year.

As for this weekend’s race, tune in to the CW Network at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 12 for the live broadcast of the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 from Sonoma Raceway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now if you have not already had the chance to do so!

During a weekend of hot, high-speed friction against the asphalt of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race course, thousands of tires burn out and wear down. After a few dozen laps, they lose their grip and become obsolete.

But their life cycle doesn’t end there. Each NASCAR race weekend, most of the 3,000 tires provided by Goodyear Racing become a fraction of the tens of thousands recycled annually by Liberty Tire Recycling. Before state laws prohibited it, used tires would be landfilled or stored in stockpiles, said Rick Heinrich, Goodyear’s product manager for NASCAR.

“And at a certain point, that’s got to be dealt with. We came to the realization that there had to be a new use for these tires, and that’s where we’re at today,” he said. “When they’re not usable anymore on the street, they’re very suitable when they’re turned into a different type of product to make other things, things that are all around us.”

In 2024, a total of 215 million tires — including 92,588 from NASCAR — were recycled by Liberty, a company based in North Carolina that collects and processes racing, as well as auto and truck tires, from all across North America, according to spokesperson John Dowdy.

The ideal would be to reuse a tire for the rest of its life, Dowdy said, which is possible when retailers resell gently used auto or truck tires for less than new ones. But, after being used, racing tires don’t usually have any more life left in them, at least in their original form.

At a Liberty facility in Concord, a suburb of Charlotte in North Carolina, NASCAR racing tires are shredded into quarter-sized chips that can be used as aggregate in roadbeds, landfill liners and landscaping products.

“It’s a perfect example of sustainability,” Heinrich said. “You’re taking stuff that’s worn out, you can’t use it again for what it was originally built for, but it goes into something else. Nothing is wasted.”

The shredded tires can also be used as a more efficient fuel to power kilns and boilers in concrete factories, electric plants and pulp and paper mills. However, while burning so-called tire-derived fuel is cleaner than using other fossil fuels, the process still releases some greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.

Kurt Busch will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame next January. He’s definitely deserving of it, having won the 2004 NASCAR Cup championship and 34 Cup races before his career was cut short due to a serious concussion. Busch had a lot of great moments in his NASCAR career, and some not so great moments, including several run-ins with reporters.

There’s one instance that he particularly regrets, a hot mic incident with TV reporter Jamie Little that still bothers Busch today. He relayed this in a recent episode of the SpakeUp Podcast with Shannon Spake.

It was in 2011 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Busch’s car did not pass pre-race inspection. He was heading across the track, from Turn 1 to Turn 4 (where tech inspection was located) and Little intercepted him, asking if he was willing to talk.

Busch and Little are good friends and both are from Las Vegas. But Busch was in no mood to talk that day and, unfortunately, his verbiage was picked up live.

“I don’t know that (my car didn’t pass tech), I’m doing driver intros, I’m doing a lap around in the truck, taking a couple pictures by the pit box with our fans, with our sponsors,” Busch said. “And I go out to find my car on the grid and it’s not there. I’m like, ‘Where’s my f***ing car?’

“So the cameras are coming at me and I’m like, ‘Oh I know they’re coming to me and I’m going to just beeline to go find my car… It’s like a couple minutes and the National Anthem’s going to play. I’m like, ‘Not right now, Jamie, I’ve got to go find my f***ing car.’”

Little responded by asking, “Are you okay with asking a question?” To which Busch promptly said, “Why the f*** do you think I’d be okay? I’ve got to go get in my car. NASCAR told me I’ve got to get in my car.”

That moment opened Pandora’s Box, in a way, with a number of officials on other teams giving their take on what just happened. Billy O’Shea, spotter for Kevin Harvick, said, “Keep an eye on the 22 (Busch). He’s in full meltdown mode.”

Jeff Dickerson (now co-owner of Spire Motorsports, but back then the spotter for Jeff Gordon) went, “22 just went ape-s**t. I guess he went crazy sometime here in the last few minutes.” Kevin Hamlin, spotter for Clint Bowyer, said, “Hey Clint, word is the driver of the 22 had a slight meltdown in driver intros today.”

“I wasn’t really cussing at Jamie, I was just trying to find my f***ing car,” Busch said.

Busch had run-ins with other media

Busch had several other run-ins ranging from Dr. Jerry Punch to Marty Smith from ESPN during his career. But he also had some good situations, even though they sometimes eventually led to a bad situation, such as with Bob Pockrass (formerly of Sporting News, and now with FOX Sports).

“Those things happen,” Busch said. “But at the end of the day, if I could do one thing over, because everyone says they wouldn’t change anything, but maybe it would have been to go out to dinner with different media members and go have a beer and to chill.

“Like I ran into Bob Pockrass one time at the airport. We were going into an off week, I was going to the Bahamas and he was going to London and we had a beer and we chit-chatted.

“Then it was like two months later when he was asking me something about Justin Allgaier at Dover and I’m like, ‘Bob, if I wasn’t on (NASCAR) probation right now, I’d just kick your a**.’ But it was kind of like a friendship moment. He definitely got under my skin in that moment but it was like, ‘Oh boy, I did it again.’”

Adding to the excitement, NASCAR driver Ross Chastain, who races the Trackhouse Racing No. 1 car, made a special appearance in the Finger Lakes region to connect with fans and promote the upcoming Go Bowling at The Glen race. Chastain spent the day signing autographs, meeting fans, and gaining a deeper appreciation for the unique glassmaking process behind the coveted trophies. Standing just feet away from where the trophies are created, Chastain reflected on the experience, saying, “To hear from the experts in glass blowing and this glass making process, learning a bit about the history and just trying to take it all in… now the trophy means more, now that I know where it came from.”