Sonoma marks the final road course challenge of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is reaching a boiling point, and the final road course of the year at Sonoma Raceway is here to shake everything up. With just nine regular-season races left before the Chase grid is finalized, a mere 26 points separate the drivers currently sitting 14th through 20th in the standings. It is the perfect stage for some chaos, especially with the second annual In-Season Challenge kicking off for the top 32 drivers.

All eyes are on Shane van Gisbergen, who enters the weekend with a desperate need to recover from a 38th-place disaster at Naval Base Coronado. Despite his seven wins in 15 road-course starts, he finds himself sitting 17th in the standings—outside the provisional Chase cutoff. It is an insane stat, and the urgency for him to perform is palpable.

Then there is the veteran AJ Allmendinger, who will hit a massive milestone with his 500th Cup Series start. While his road-racing pedigree is beyond question, Sonoma has been a puzzle he has never solved, with 14 starts yielding no top-five finishes. Meanwhile, Daniel Suárez of Spire Motorsports has been a revelation this year. Sitting eighth in the points with a Coca-Cola 600 win already secured, he is looking to rediscover the magic he found at this very track back in 2022.