Shane Van Gisbergen’s second win of the NASCAR season came as he dominated the Chicago Street Course once again. Now, SVG looks to win two straight races as NASCAR heads west. The 2025 Toyota Save Mart 350 sees the best in stock car racing turn right and left once again.
Will SVG’s road / street course dominance continue at Sonoma, or can another driver find their way to Victory Lane on Sunday? Who will advance in this round of the in-season challenge? Let’s dive in.
2025 Toyota Save Mart 350 Entry List
For the second straight week, Katherine Legge will hit the track in the NASCAR Cup Series. Legge finished in the top 20 last week at Chicago.
He's in need of a win.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 11, 2025
Luckily for @Daniel_SuarezG, we're heading to a place he's had success at. 😏 pic.twitter.com/E2NkrOENQI
The chartered entries to the field remain unchanged as expected, though the ongoing court battle between NASCAR and 23XI, as well as Front Row, could impact how many charter entries are in the field.
In-Season Challenge Matchups
We’ve whittled the field down to just eight drivers left standing in the in-season tournament, and given the chaos at both Atlanta and Chicago, almost none of the favorites remain.
Here are the matchups for this week:
32 Seed Ty Dillon vs. 8 Seed Alex Bowman
12 Seed John Hunter Nemechek vs. 20 Seed Erik Jones
15 Seed Ryan Preece vs. 23 Seed Tyler Reddick
6 Seed Ty Gibbs vs. 14 Seed Zane Smith
Either way, we’re locked into the next round. 🤷 https://t.co/nHTV6xwwQY pic.twitter.com/Fjtc6yp0X5
— LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (@LEGACYMotorClub) July 10, 2025
From this round, I’m taking Bowman, Jones, Reddick, and Gibbs to move on to the Final Four.
2025 Toyota Save Mart 350 Race Predictions
Coming off another win at a place that NASCAR makes left and right turns, Shane Van Gisbergen ranks as one of the favorites for Sunday’s race at Sonoma. One of the key differences between Sonoma and other road courses or street circuits on the schedule is that NASCAR has been coming here for years, meaning other drivers have more experience here than SVG.
That doesn’t mean SVG won’t be a factor, but I do think it means the field will be more competitive. Among the drivers I expect to push for a win at Sonoma is Ty Gibbs in the #54. Gibbs felt like the driver most competitive with SVG at Mexico City and had another great run last week at Chicago.
Tyler Reddick marks another Toyota that will likely be competitive at Sonoma, as the driver of the #45 consistently runs well at road courses.
Of the road courses NASCAR runs, Sonoma is not a favorite of AJ Allmendinger, but the Kaulig Racing driver ought to still be competitive.
For my official race winner pick, however, I am going with Chris Buescher in the #17. Buescher has developed into an incredible road racer, as shown by his head-to-head battle with SVG at Watkins Glen last year. Buescher came out on top and has the best average finish of the field at Sonoma.
Check out the schedule below so you don’t miss any on-track action this weekend.
Friday 07/11
NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying – 4:05 p.m. CT on the CW App
General Tire 200 (ARCA Menards Series) – 5:30 p.m. CT on FloRacing
Saturday 07/12
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 1:40 p.m. CT on TruTV
Pit Boss / FoodMaxx 250 (NASCAR Xfinity Series) – 3:30 p.m. CT on the CW
Sunday 07/13
Toyota / Save Mart 350 (NASCAR Cup Series) – 2:30 p.m. CT on TNT, TruTV, and Max
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