The NASCAR season must wait nine more weeks for the next road course race on June 9th at a repaved Sonoma Raceway. Nevertheless, testing for the 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350 on the brand-new twists and turns of Sonoma took place just this past week, with all three manufacturers representing themselves in “record-breaking” fashion. 

Ross Chastain (Chevrolet), Martin Truex Jr (Toyota), and Josh Berry (Ford) took the new Goodyears for a spin around the 12 turns of the 1.99-mile California road circuit, shortened for NASCAR. Chastain recorded blistering speeds of above 2.5 seconds compared to the previous track record on the new repaved configuration. Now, coming into the first oval race after COTA’s 2024 “debut,” the #1 Trackhouse star seems excited, to say the least, for his own “debut” win at a “pristine” Sonoma Raceway.

Ross Chastain could win his first-ever Sonoma victory due to Repave

This will mark the first time in 23 years that the West Coast road course runs on repaved asphalt, and Chastain seemed to take the most advantage. The Melon Man has started four times in the Cup Series at Sonoma, finishing in the top 10 three of those times. A road victory is due for the #1 Busch-Light star since COTA in 2022, and this year’s Sonoma road race could be his redemption run, as he sits ninth in the table with four top 10s so far, heading into Richmond’s spring race.

Prior to his Richmond advance, the #1 driver elaborated his latest feelings to Bob Pockrass of FOX on how “fast” the track feels this year. “I could run second gear, never have to go to first… Normally you’re crawling around turn 7 and turn 11. That was not the case, so… A lot of speed, a lot of grip on exit,” explained the Florida native.

Pockrass followed up with another question. This time, I asked the #1 driver about his expectations for the upcoming road race. Chastain had the most likely reply for Pockrass, as he declared, “I didn’t have any expectations. We had some bets on the team of how long it would take to go faster than the track record, we got that maybe second run of the day, and then we just kept going faster, as we’ve got the track rubbered in, with our rubber there.”

He detailed his excitement further, stating that there had been “other cars on the track,” but nobody lays in the rubber down like Cup cars do.” Chastain also mentioned how the track felt “pretty pristine,” and free of “skid marks.” He explained his minimal mishaps as he candidly observed, “Slid through a couple of corners but never spun all the way around.”

While Chastain ran his best-ever laps at the road course, last year’s Sonoma winner MTJ raised some concerns regarding repaves and the new Goodyears this season.

Another Goodyear “Temperature” fallout to ensue?

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JGR’s #19 New Jersey native has won the Sonoma road race a total of four times while driving a Toyota. Two out of those four races were won with the support of Joe Gibbs Racing, as was the most recent Toyota/Save Mart 350 victory, which saw the Cup cars average speeds of 81.989 mph. Nevertheless, after the repave, results suggest that Sonoma’s brand-new look in 12 turns will be even faster than last year’s encounter in California Wine County, courtesy of SMI, Sacramento-based ABSL Construction, and 2000 tons of “specialty asphalt” provided by Bay Cities Paving & Grading.

Nevertheless, Bristol’s Goodyear debacle made sure the new tires received plenty of negative publicity, albeit on another “repaved” concrete setup. It is important to note that the Phoenix race is another debut of a new “short track” package, but not on an actual short track. Amidst all the whispers, MTJ cautioned his fellow drivers and the NASCAR community after the track test.

According to the official NASCAR website, the 2017 NCS champ stated, “I know the track is obviously new pavement, so it’s been getting better and better all day long. It was pretty dirty to start; pretty slick. And as we just ran laps and put rubber down, it feels pretty good. When we come back, it’ll be a lot hotter, so it’s going to be different. But always fun to get a little jump on the competition on a repave.”  For now, the season braces for the Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond Raceway.

Martin Truex Jr Breaks Unbelievable News for the New Repaved Sonoma Raceway