It has been over a year since the NASCAR Cup Series has raced in the state of California. That will finally change this weekend when the series makes its return to the Sonoma Raceway for Sunday’s 90-lap feature.
Michael McDowell and the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops team head into the weekend with five top-10 finishes on their season and looking for more. McDowell is also looking to return to the top-15 in the driver point standings. He is only four points behind Christopher Bell for 15th.
Anthony Alfredo and the No. 38 MDS Transportation team are looking to give Alfredo experience at the technical road course. Alfredo will be making his first start on the track.
Sunday’s race begins at 4:00 p.m. ET with the live broadcast on FS1.
“It’s great that we’re finally able to come back to California and Sonoma,” said McDowell. “It’s just a great area, a great track with great fans. We’ve always had a great time with our partners from Love’s Travel Stops and Speedco in the area and it’s just something our sport has missed.”
McDowell is not only looking forward to seeing the fans in California, but he’s also looking to continue his best season of his career. The Love’s Travel Stops driver has a best finish of 14th at the Sonoma Raceway, but is ready for a top-10.
“It’s probably one of the tracks where I really want to get a top-10. I love road course racing and Sonoma is a really technical track. I just love that aspect and I feel that we’ll have a good chance for a great finish.”
Finally, McDowell is still positioning himself in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and wants to maximize points this weekend.
“This is a weekend where we can score stage points and have a good points day. It’s more of a challenge for us to get points at some races, but this is a track where we can make that happen. I love the fight that we have and we’re going to put up another strong effort this Sunday.”
For Anthony Alfredo and the No. 38 MDS Transportation team, the goal at Sonoma is to gain experience on a new track for the rookie driver. That is something that Alfredo has done well at this season- especially on road courses he’s never raced. Alfredo had solid performances at the Daytona Road Course and the Circuit of the Americas earlier this season.
“Yeah, it’s funny that is how it has turned out, the road courses have been some of our best finishes of the season,” said Alfredo. “I didn’t have a lot of road course experience, but it’s been a lot of fun and we’ve had good cars, good strategy and it’s paid off with some good finishes.”
Alfredo finished 22nd at the Daytona Road Course and 18th at the Circuit of the Americas. He comes into the race with hopes of another top-20 finish at Sonoma.
“I think if we can just have a mistake-free race that we should be in a good position. We did that at Daytona and in Austin, and that’s what pays off at the end of these road course races There is usually a lot of wrecks or other things happening, and if you can have a clean and smart race, you’ll have a good day.”
