A Day of Speed and Surprises at Sonoma
The NASCAR Cup Series descended on Sonoma Raceway in California for a crucial weekend of practice and qualifying, setting the stage for the upcoming road course showdown
Ty Gibbs emerged as the fastest qualifier, posting a blistering lap of 1:14.829 to claim the pole position, while Carson Hocevar, Kyle Larson and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five
However, the session was marred by a dramatic moment for Bubba Wallace, who spun into the wall and incurred moderate damage to his car, forcing him to adjust his strategy before the race
In practice, Ryan Blaney set the pace with a lap of 75.808 seconds, edging out Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick, who posted times of 75.924 and 75.938 respectively, hinting at a tightly contested qualifying grid
The full top ten featured Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, while the complete field of 36 drivers will now shift focus to the final shootout