This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
The more things change the more they stay the same as Martin Truex Jr. returned to the top of the order at a road course with his fourth Sonoma Raceway win in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver took the lead for the first time on lap 33 and went on to lead 51 total laps to score his first road course victory since 2019, which also happened to be at Sonoma. The No. 19 rarely felt pressure when out front, and relatively few cautions throughout the afternoon enabled him to ease away from the competition and maintain a lead for significant stretches of the race. With no mistakes throughout the distance he earned his second win of the season and takes over as series points leader heading into a rare off week.
Teams and drivers have a week to take a breath with no on-track action this coming weekend, but that doesn't mean they won't be working hard to maximize their chances for the run up to the championship playoffs. The schedule resumes in earnest at Nashville Superspeedway in two weeks time with what will be the third NASCAR Cup Series race at the track. Only 10 races remain for drivers to secure their spot in the playoff field, and sx spots remain to be claimed via points. Alex Bowman currently sits in the bubble spot with a slim three-point advantage over Daniel Suarez in 17th. Hendrick Motorsports won both of the prior Nashville races with
The more things change the more they stay the same as Martin Truex Jr. returned to the top of the order at a road course with his fourth Sonoma Raceway win in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver took the lead for the first time on lap 33 and went on to lead 51 total laps to score his first road course victory since 2019, which also happened to be at Sonoma. The No. 19 rarely felt pressure when out front, and relatively few cautions throughout the afternoon enabled him to ease away from the competition and maintain a lead for significant stretches of the race. With no mistakes throughout the distance he earned his second win of the season and takes over as series points leader heading into a rare off week.
Teams and drivers have a week to take a breath with no on-track action this coming weekend, but that doesn't mean they won't be working hard to maximize their chances for the run up to the championship playoffs. The schedule resumes in earnest at Nashville Superspeedway in two weeks time with what will be the third NASCAR Cup Series race at the track. Only 10 races remain for drivers to secure their spot in the playoff field, and sx spots remain to be claimed via points. Alex Bowman currently sits in the bubble spot with a slim three-point advantage over Daniel Suarez in 17th. Hendrick Motorsports won both of the prior Nashville races with Chase Elliott taking the checkered flag last season.
UPGRADE
Martin Truex Jr. - Truex certainly had the car to beat Sunday at Sonoma. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates all started the race strongly, but Truex's pace was a step above the rest. He started eighth and went on to score stage points in both opening segments. Even when shuffled back in traffic during the pit cycles, he remained a menace to anyone hoping to spend a significant amount of time at the front. He led a race high 51 laps and never looked like he would be overtaken by the anyone on his way to a career fourth win at Sonoma. With two victories so far this season Truex is building toward a run deep into the playoffs, and he is doing a good job of it as he enters the coming week top in points. He finished 22nd in both Nashville races but led 81 laps at the track last year after starting 10th.
Kyle Busch - Choosing to pit early paid dividends for Busch when a caution in the second stage allowed him to cycle to the front and lead the final laps of that segment. The stage win was his second of the season and netted him one of the all-important playoff points. At the end of the race on fresh tires Busch was the closest driver to challenge Truex, but the speed of the No. 19 was just too much to deal with and Busch was forced to settle for a runner-up finish. It was his fifth top-five of the season and fourth finish of seventh or better in the last four races excluding the All-Star Race. Despite leading 64 laps in the two Nashville races so far, Busch has a best finish of 11th at the track. He finished 21st last season after starting 36th and is aiming to improve upon those results this week as he continues to build toward the playoffs.
Chris Buescher – Sunday's fourth-place finish at Sonoma was Buescher's third top-five finish of the season. Four finishes of 12th or better from the last four races now puts him 13th in the series standings with a 99-point gap back to Alex Bowman in the final playoff position. The team's consistent results, coupled with very few finishes outside of the top 20, are making them playoff contenders with or without race victories. A good test of their progress from last season should come this week, too. Buescher finished 30th at Nashville last season and has an average finish at the track of 33.0 from the two races previously run. Another top-15 finish would be a good outcome considering his past results there, but Buescher us clearly demonstrating potential for more. A spot in the playoffs is within his reach and maintaining his current consistency should get him there.
Michael McDowell - An upturn in performance starting around the All-Star Weekend proved to be good timing for McDowell. The run of strong results carried straight into a road course race, which is one of the types of tracks he has a habit of outperforming at. That all proved true again Sunday as McDowell ran ran inside the top 10 all afternoon and added stage points to his season tally. Sunday's outing was a confident race with no mistakes as McDowell piloted his machine to a seventh-place finish, his third top-10 of the season and second in a row. He and the team continue to work to get the most out of their equipment and build consistency. He sits 19th in the standings and is just 14 points out of the playoff positions. The coming race at Nashville could help them maintain that position, too. His average finish from the two races there is 14.5 with a 13th-place finish last season.
Ryan Preece - One team making progress is the No. 41. Preece started the year with more finishes out of the top 20 than in it, but more recently he has been scoring consistent top-20s and many top-15s, too. Sunday's 13th-place finish was his third top-15 from the last five races, and it came on a road course, which is a format that isn't necessarily one of his strengths. He and the team have been working hard to get on the same page and have been taking steps forward. Their effort is showing in the finishes, too. While the team is sill looking for their first top-10 of the year, the types of finishes they are achieving now mean those are not far out of their grasp. A venue like Nashville could be a spot where that top-10 comes. Preece started one of the two races at the track but retired with brake issues. He is in better equipment this time and growing in confidence.
DOWNGRADE
Denny Hamlin - Hamlin led every lap from pole and won the first stage Sunday at Sonoma to earn a valuable playoff point. Unfortunately, he clipped the inside wall on the front straight in the final stage, which sent him out of control and into the barriers. After limping back to the pits with a heavily damaged car, his race ultimately came to an end. A broken suspension from the crash was too much for the team to repair and Hamlin exited with less than 20 laps remaining. It was his second finish worse than 30th from the last three races, and the team will be hoping they've exhausted their bad luck. There is still plenty of time to build more consistent finishes before the playoffs arrive, though. Hamlin started on pole at Nashville last season and led 114 laps but couldn't get the victory and finished sixth.
Ryan Blaney - Sunday was a tough afternoon for Blaney. After not performing well on road courses recently the team went for big changes with the car, and those changes didn't pay off as he fell outside of the top 20 early and struggled with handling. The situation only got worse when he collected a speeding penalty on pit road and went a lap down, too. However, smart pit strategy with the cautions enabled him to move back into the top 10. It looked like the struggle session was going to morph into turnaround, but while trying to hold off the faster cars behind he got turned twice and slipped back outside the top 20 again. Blaney finished the race 31st despite the team's valiant efforts. Nashville might be a better venue for him, though. He started sixth and finished third in last year's race. The team continues their battle to capitalize on quick days while getting the most out of their more difficult days, though.
Austin Cindric - Cindric was one of the best on road courses in his Xfinity Series days, and even without a road course win in the Cup Series, his talent on the circuits has been evident. He has just two top-10 finishes this season and his most recent was his sixth-place finish at Circuit of the Americas. With just one top-15 finish since that March result, the past week's visit to Sonoma should have been a chance to turn things around. It turned out to be a disappointment with no stage points and another finish outside of the top 20, though. Cindric qualified a lowly 34th and spent the race trying to find adjustments that would enable him to climb the running order. The right changes didn't come fast enough and Cindric finished 25th. The team is still hunting for consistency and a step forward to top-15 results. Next week is another chance, though. He finished seventh at Nashville last season.
Chase Briscoe – Bricoe's underperformance this season continued again at Sonoma. He qualified 24th and was only able to secure a 29th-place finish, which was the third time in a row he finished 20th or worse. Briscoe's last top-15 was at Talladega, and the hefty points penalty he and the team were slapped with by NASCAR is keeping them well down the championship standings. Qualifying for the playoffs seems highly unlikely, and the chances of advancing each round feel even more unlikely given the struggles and the point deficit. Briscoe's past results at Nashville don't suggest a turnaround this week is likely either. His average finish from the two races there is 32.5. He led five laps in the 2021 event, but crashes in both races prevented him from earning anything better. The current season may already be a lost cause and focus may already be on 2024.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Tyler Reddick - Through last season and his win earlier this year at Circuit of the Americas, Reddick had been working to establish himself as the man to beat on road courses. Despite not having the best past results at Sonoma he appeared to be making his case with a front-row start for Sunday. Things turned sour when he lost track position through the pit cycles following the first stage, though. After contact and a flat tire on the front straight, Reddick made the command decision to cut the course to get to pit entrance and avoid making a two-mile circuit with a wounded car. However, NASCAR deemed the decision a foul and enforced a drive-through penalty, which left him with a 33rd-place finish. The finish was the second in a row worse than 30th for the No. 45 team as they seek to turn that trend around this week at Nashville.
