2024 Trackhouse Racing Advance – Sonoma - Speedway Digest

After 61 days of work, Sonoma Raceway’s full-scale repave project has been completed – the first repave in over 23 years.

The transformation started to take shape after the Christmas holiday with crews milling the old surface of the track. Over the course of two months, the track was ground down, cracks were repaired and brand-new, long-lasting asphalt was placed down to enhance the racing surface at Sonoma Raceway.

With paving complete in February the 2.52-mile road course was open for testing in late-March with track speeds nearly three seconds faster.

Kubota Tractor Corp: This weekend at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Ross Chastain will drive the orange-and-black Kubota Tractor Corporation Chevrolet for the third time this season. Kubota joined the Trackhouse Racing family in 2022 with their first primary race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway where Chastain finished second. Chastain will pilot the Kubota livery in three more races this season.
$10,000 Donation for Top-10 Finish: For the second year, Kubota and Trackhouse Racing are putting the partnership in overdrive in support of farmer veterans. In the races Kubota is serving as the primary sponsor of Chastain’s No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, a $10,000 donation will be made to the Farmer Veteran Coalition for a top-10 finish. The Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) is a national nonprofit organization that assists military veterans and currently serving members of the Armed Forces to transition into careers in farming, and since 2015, Kubota has partnered with FVC on the “Geared to Give” program which has provided more than $900,000 to the coalition in the form of organizational support, grants to veterans and 41 pieces of donated equipment. So far this season, Chastain has secured a total of $20,000 in donations with a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a sixth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway.
Busy Week for Chastain: Before heading to California later this week for a busy weekend on and off of the track, Chastain participated in the Folds of Honor Rock 'N Jock celebrity softball tournament presented by Jockey on Monday night in Nashville.
Meet Chastain: On Thursday, June 6, the Kubota driver will appear at Green Valley Tractor, 4135 Abernathy Road, Fairfield, Calif., 94534 beginning at 1:30 p.m. local time. At 4 p.m. local time, Chastain will appear at Garton Tractor, 211 Cresco Court, Santa Rosa, Calif., 95407. Both appearances are open to the public. On Friday, June 7, Chastain will appear on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety and the California Department of Transportation at Sonoma Plaza (in front of Sonoma City Hall), 453 1st St. E, Sonoma, Calif., 95476. The event begins at 5 p.m. local time when Chastain will meet with local Sonoma County teenagers. Meet and greet with the general public begins at 6 p.m. local time. Media interviews and photo opportunities are available throughout the entire event.
New Surface at Sonoma: Chastain is making his fifth Cup Series start at Sonoma but this weekend will be different from the previous four as the track has undergone a repave. Chastain participated in a Goodyear tire test at the facility back in late March. Track speeds were three seconds faster than on the previous surface. Since the tire test, areas of the course have been patched and teammate Shane van Gisbergen has participated in a wheel force test at the road course.
Sonoma Stats: The Chevrolet driver has four Cup Series starts at Sonoma with three consecutive top-10 finishes. His best finish of seventh came in 2021 and 2022. Chastain has one start in the Xfinity Series at Sonoma with a finish of 18th in 2023, and one start in the Truck Series in 2022 with a fourth-place finish.
Season Stats: Chastain has earned four top-10s in 14 races so far this season along with 108 laps led. He's currently 11th in driver points.
NASCAR: Full Speed: Catch Chastain in the five-episode docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed on Netflix. The series documented portions of Chastain's 2023 season on and off the track. All five episodes are currently available on Netflix.
Last Weekend at St. Louis: After Chastain qualified 16th at Worldwide Technology Raceway near St. Louis on Saturday, he went on a brewery tour with the No. 1 team at Anheuser-Busch. On Sunday, there were various pit strategies throughout the race and Chastain raced in the top-10 but ultimately finished 12th.
2023 Season Recap: Chastain won at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in June and at the Phoenix Raceway season finale in November. He posted 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in his third full time Cup season. The Alva, Florida native finished ninth in points.

Ross Chastain Career Statistics

Chastain Quotes:

How was the Sonoma test for you?

“Fast. We were around three seconds faster than the track record. Now, they have patched and repaved several spots since I’ve been there. SVG went recently with the wheel force car and he had different feedback in some corners from different things they had patched and repaved. When we were there it was all one coat and then right after we left they started changing it. It’s really fast and the asphalt is very fresh and dark.”

Did you take anything away from your teammate winning at the Sonoma road course?

“Absolutely. Daniel and I train closer than I ever have with a teammate. Part of that was because early on I didn’t do any of that. I’ve found that Daniel and I really line up well and so we talk about it almost daily about different tracks, philosophies and things like that. Especially on road courses there’s so much to gain from him.”

How important is track position going to be at Sonoma because it may be hard to pass?

“Normally on repaves you just run the shortest distance but with SMI and these repaves they’ve done a unique and I think a good job of their approach. I think we all saw that at North Wilkesboro. They’re doing it different and you’re seeing some growing pains with Sonoma but they’re working on it and they’ll get it figured out. Sonoma is not going to be the same track as when I tested, or when Shane (Van Gisbergen) tested so we’ll see how it is when we get there this weekend.”

Trackhouse Racing PR