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The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion has only one trip to Victory Lane in 2022, a win at Auto Club Speedway. However, Kyle Larson can join an elite category that only includes two other drivers by winning at Sonoma Raceway on June 12.
There are 20 drivers that have reached Victory Lane at the California road course, but only two have done so in consecutive years. Jeff Gordon, who has five wins at Sonoma, went back-to-back in 1998 and 1999. He added his third consecutive win in 2000 and became the only Cup Series driver to win three straight at Sonoma. Martin Truex Jr. then won consecutive races during the 2018 and 2019 seasons to reach three overall. His first win at Sonoma was in 2013.
Larson, for comparison, won for the first time at Sonoma Raceway after starting from the pole and leading a total of 57 laps. He became the sixth driver to win at the road course after starting on the pole, and now he can become only the third-ever to win back-to-back races. Though he will have to fend off Truex, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, and several other drivers capable of excelling at road courses.
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Larson Can Pursue Another of Gordon’s Records
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GettyJeff Gordon (left) holds the all-time record for Sonoma pole awards.
The consecutive wins mark is not the only record of Gordon’s that Larson will pursue on June 11-12. He will also try to move closer to the Hall of Famer’s mark for starts from the pole position at Sonoma Raceway.
Gordon is the all-time leader in poles at Sonoma with five. (1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005). Larson is the active leader among Cup Series drivers with three pole wins (2017, 2018, 2019). The driver of the No. 5 also started from the pole during the 2021 Cup Series race, but he did not post a qualifying lap. NASCAR officials set the starting lineup using its formula due to the COVID restrictions in California.
As history has shown, winning the pole at Sonoma does not guarantee that a driver will reach Victory Lane. However, it certainly doesn’t hurt considering that only two drivers have started outside of the top 15 and won at Sonoma. Kyle Busch started 30th in 2008 while Juan Pablo Montoya started 32nd in 2007. Both celebrated in Victory Lane after making comebacks.
Another Hendrick Driver Pursues a Different Record
Larson will not be the only member of the Hendrick Motorsports lineup pursuing one of Gordon’s records. Chase Elliott will also do so while trying to reach Victory Lane for the second time in the 2022 season.
The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro is currently third all-time in Cup Series road course wins. He has seven trips to Victory Lane split between Road America, Circuit of the Americas, the Charlotte Roval, the Daytona Road Course, and Watkins Glen International. However, he has never won at Sonoma Raceway.
If Elliott wins for the first time at the California track, he will secure his eighth career Cup Series road course win. This will move him into a tie for second all-time with Hall of Famer Tony Stewart. Gordon holds the all-time record with nine road course wins split between Watkins Glen (four) and Sonoma Raceway (five).
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