CONCORD, N.C. – Ten races, 10 winners.
For the past decade at Sonoma Raceway, it’s been anyone’s race.
Starting with Tony Stewart’s win in 2005 up to Carl Edwards’ last year, a different driver has won every year on the road course.
In that span, Jeff Gordon (2006), Kasey Kahne (2009) and Jimmie Johnson (2010) have all found Victory Lane. Johnson went on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship following his victory in Sonoma, California.
A win this Sunday by Dale Earnhardt Jr. – who earned his career-best Sonoma finish of third last year – would move the road course into a tie with New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s 11 consecutive different winners for the longest active streak.
Gordon, meanwhile, will look to break the streak -- just like Johnson and Kahne. But Gordon happens to be the all-time wins leader at the road course.
Gordon’s “hometown track,” Sonoma Raceway is just 13 miles from his native Vallejo, California. He has finished third or better in 13 of his 22 starts at the road course, and he holds the track record for poles, average finish, top-five finishes, top-10s and laps led in addition to wins.
The all-time leader in road-course victories with nine, Gordon would appreciate the trip to Victory Lane that much more, as it would be his first in his final full-time Sprint Cup Series season.
"Sonoma race weekend is always special to me because of family and friends and how good the track has been to me, but this weekend may be even more special because it’s my final race there,” he said. “I am going to miss racing there.”