[autotag]Ross Chastain[/autotag] hasn’t been horrible at Sonoma Raceway since joining the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2021; however, there is potential for more success. Chastain has competed in three races since 2021 for three top-10 finishes. The Trackhouse Racing driver has a best finish of seventh place twice. In 2023, Chastain ended the day with a 10th-place finish.
Alongside Martin Truex Jr. and Josh Berry, Chastain was one of three drivers to test Sonoma’s new race surface after a recent repave. Chastain talked to the media and discussed the new surface. Overall, the expectation should be racing that Sonoma hasn’t seen in its history.
“The repave is super gripped up – we’re north of 2.5 seconds faster than the track record,” Chastain said. “We kept going faster throughout the day as we got rubber into the track. It was just about me chasing the grip because there was so much new asphalt…As we got our Goodyear rubber into it, we made a rubber line where we ran – it’s definitely dirty off-line but they’ll sweep that tonight and it will widen out with more cars.”
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“Yeah, it’s fast. The pavement has so much grip that now the rumble strips feel really slick because you’re going so much faster. Everything is faster – I’m not using the curbs as much as I used to – I’ve evolved throughout the day…I saw some fall-off – actually more than I thought. I had definite grip-loss on the car and it showed in the lap time. I had more than I expected for a repave.”
Based on Chastain’s comments, NASCAR could be in for a very fast track at Sonoma in June. Also, it is positive to see some tire falloff as it produces better racing and allows drivers to make moves. Hopefully, Sonoma can keep its fast racing and tire falloff when NASCAR arrives for its only date of the 2024 season in June.
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