Elliott’s return highlights NASCAR Cup racers’ stop at Sonoma road course

SONOMA, Calif. — Chase Elliott is back from his suspension with a chance to get right back in the win column.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ most popular driver excels on road courses like Sonoma Raceway, where he has four career top-10 finishes. Elliott has the skills to take on other road warriors like Tyler Reddick and defending champion Daniel Suárez on Sunday in the series’ annual trip to this challenging track in wine country.

“The way that this track has the falloff and elevation changes that are different, it’s exciting,” the Northern California-born Reddick said. “When I come here, I feel like I’m behind, because some drivers have been racing it for years.”

Reddick has won three of the last five road course races on the Cup schedule, emerging as the best road racer in the Next Gen car. But he’s hardly the only driver who enjoys the chance to make right turns for a change.

“I look forward to road courses just because it’s different,” said Kyle Larson, the 2021 Sonoma champion and a Sacramento-area native. “It’s fun and it’s something I feel like I’m good at. … I’ve always qualified well (on road courses, but) when I was at Chip Ganassi Racing, I didn’t race good at all, especially here. We would qualify on the pole and then run like 20th in the race. But since I got to Hendrick Motorsports, I still qualify well and our race car is good. I’m not sure where I’ve developed. I think our race cars can just handle me being crazy, abusing my tires and stuff.”

Suárez made history on this course a year ago, becoming the Cup Series’ first Mexican-born winner. He has 13 top-10 finishes in the ensuing year, and he likes his own chances of a repeat.

“I feel like our chances are just as good as last year or even better,” Suárez said. “My team has just gotten smarter and stronger, and whenever we’re on a road course, I know we’re going to be a contender.”

Grant Enfinger is making his Cup debut as the replacement driver for Noah Gragson, who is sitting out with symptoms of an apparent concussion. The 38-year-old Enfinger is a nine-time winner in the Truck Series who ran one Xfinity Series race in 2021. He attempted to run one Cup Series race for Sinica Motorsports in 2011 but failed to qualify.

Early Saturday, NASCAR showed off the counterfeit part found on Chase Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Racing Ford last month, leading to one of the biggest penalties in Cup Series history. The fraudulent air duct under the engine panel led to a $250,000 fine and a six-race suspension for crew chief Johnny Klausmeier, a 100-point owner and driver penalty, and a loss of 25 playoff points.

The whole caper made Kyle Busch laugh.

“I wish we had a ‘What an Idiot’ award,” Busch said. “Even if you can’t find that part, you can call one of the other race teams and say: ‘Hey, you guys got this? Can we buy it from you?’ That blows my mind. I don’t get it. For as little as that (part) probably meant, that was a huge fine to the pocketbook and points book.”

Larson is pleased to see the Cup Series’ upcoming safety changes in response to his scary crash with Ryan Preece in April. The changes, which include softening the front bumper and strengthening the middle of the car, will be implemented next month, starting in Atlanta.

“I am very happy that me being in that wreck at Talladega (Superspeedway), and seeing how close it got to being really bad – seeing them go straight into action, compile data and make quick moves on improving the safety was something I was happy to see,” he said.

Larson and Reddick are the 9/2 co-favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, with Elliott right behind them at 11/2. Larson is the Cup Series favorite for the second straight week overall. Busch is going off at 9/1.