By Lonnie Hugh Skinner

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series

Looking Ahead – Indianapolis Storylines and Insights:

·       This season marks the 21st running of a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

·       Defending series champion, Ty Majeski, has won the last two consecutive Truck races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (2023-24). Grant Enfinger (2022) is the only active driver with a win at IRP.

·       Ty Majeski currently occupies the 10th and final Playoff transfer spot in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver point standings, up +38 points on Jake Garcia in 11th, and up +65 points on Giovanni Ruggiero in 12th.

·       Corey Heim has won five of the 15 Truck Series races this season, his best finish at Indianapolis is fifth (2022).

·       Corey Heim has 14 stage wins in 2025, the driver with the next most is Layne Riggs with four.

·       Corey Heim has accumulated 39 Playoff points this season. The all-time most Playoff points a Truck Series driver has earned to take into the Playoffs is 49 by John Hunter Nemechek in 2021.

NCTS Clinch Scenarios Following Lime Rock Park:

Already Clinched:

·       The following seven drivers have clinched a spot in the 10-driver postseason field: Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen and Rajah Caruth.

Can Clinch Via Win:

The following drivers would clinch on their win alone:

·       Kaden Honeycutt, Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia, Giovanni Ruggiero, Ben Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Connor Mosack, Matt Crafton, Andres Perez De Lara, Jack Wood, Matt Mills, Dawson Sutton, Spencer Boyd, Toni Breidinger and Frankie Muniz.

Can Clinch Regular Season Championship:

Additionally, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Regular Season Championship could be clinched by the following drivers:

·       Corey Heim: Would clinch with 39 points.

NASCAR & Sonoma, Etc.

Historical and Significant Events at Sonoma Raceway:

• The track known today as Sonoma Raceway, was opened as a 2.52-mile, multi-elevational paved road course and drag strip in 1968 located just outside of Sonoma, California.
• The Sonoma track also has a 1.99-mile configuration of the road course and that is what the NASCAR national series currently compete on.
• Considered the largest motorsports facility in Northern California.
• The Road Course features more than 160 ft. of elevation change from its highest point (Turn 3a, 174 ft.) to its lowest point (Turn 10, 14 ft.) – the largest of any track on the NASCAR circuit.
• Over the course of its existence, the facility has held a few different names – Sears Point Raceway, Sears Point International Raceway and Infineon Raceway prior to being renamed Sonoma Raceway.
• The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway was held on June 11, 1989 and was won by Ricky Rudd driving a Buick for car owner Kenny Bernstein. Rudd ran the race at an average speed of 76.088 mph. He led 61 of 74 scheduled laps.
• The first nine NASCAR Cup Series races at Sonoma Raceway were 300 kilometers and then switched to a 350k format in 1998.
• In Nov. 1996, O. Bruton Smith, the founder of Speedway Motorsports, purchased Sonoma Raceway, then “Sears Point Raceway” from owner “Skip” Berg.
• The track was reconfigured to 1.949-miles in 1998 with the installation of an 890-foot chute between the original Turns 4 and 7.
• The track was reconfigured to 2.0 miles in 2001 and re-measured at 1.99 miles in 2002.
• In 2019 and 2021, the track was reconfigured back to the original 2.52-mile configuration with races being 90 laps – 226.8 miles.
• Starting in 2022, Sonoma Raceway returned the track configuration back to the 1.99-mile configuration with the return of the ‘chute’.
• More than 10 million viewers in over 90 countries watch events televised from Sonoma each year.
• In 2011, in a partnership with Panasonic Corporation of North America, the raceway installed nearly 1,700 solar panels, which offset 41% of the raceway’s energy usage.
• Nearly 4,000 sheep that live on track property provide an invaluable service, helping to maintain the grass and fire lanes around the facility.
• Drivers who complete the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race on the Chute configuration will make a total of 1,100 turns around the road course. The race spans 110 laps.
• The property on which the raceway was built was a working farm called Sears Point farm in the early 1900s.
• The raceway houses a motorsports industrial park of more than 70 businesses in 104 shops.
• Sonoma Raceway and Humboldt Sawmill Company, the leader in environmentally-certified redwood decking, are pleased to bring shade and comfort to race fans with custom-built fan amenities including the “Real. Strong. Humboldt Sawmill Redwood Deck” above Turn 2.
• Mat Mladin (AMA), Josh Hayes (AMA), Doug Kalitta (NHRA – Top Fuel), John Force (NHRA – Funny Car), and Jeff Gordon (NASCAR) are the only riders/drivers to three-peat in a major racing series at Sonoma Raceway.
• Winners in Sonoma celebrate with a sip from the Champion’s Goblet in Victory Lane. The goblet, which is handcrafted by a Bay Area glass blower, was introduced in 2006 and incorporates the raceway’s rich wine country heritage.
• The raceway has collected more than 734 tons of recyclable material (1,469,341 pounds) since the inception of the recycling program in 2004.
• Twenty owl boxes placed around Sonoma Raceway encourage owls to nest and help with natural rodent mitigation.
• In total there have been 35 NASCAR Cup Series races at Sonoma Raceway since the inaugural race there in 1989 – one race per season, until the 2020 season due to the pandemic the series did not compete at Sonoma Raceway.

COURTESY NASCAR COMMUNICATIONS