This weekend has a decent amount of racing to quench the thirst of race fans. NASCAR will be at Sonoma Raceway, while the NTT IndyCar Series has a doubleheader at Iowa Speedway. IMSA will be at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, while the FIA World Endurance Championship will be at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Brazil.
Sonoma NASCAR TV Schedule
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Practice: 4 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying: 5:10 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App
- ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 200: 6:30 p.m. ET on FLORacing.com
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 1:35 p.m. ET Saturday on TruTV/Max
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 2:40 p.m. ET Saturday on TruTV/Max
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250k: 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW
- NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350k: 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday on TNT/TruTV/Max
NASCAR will be at Sonoma Raceway this weekend for its annual visit to the Bay Area. This will be the first time that the race has ever been held in the month of July as it is traditionally a June event.
The NASCAR Cup Series drivers will be the headlining acts for the 36th time on the 1.99-mile road course. They are scheduled to pull into the garage in Sonoma Friday morning, but they have no on-track activity scheduled until Saturday.
Practice will be a typical two-group affair beginning at 1:35 p.m. ET Saturday. Coverage will air live on TruTV starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards.
Coverage of the Toyota/Save Mart 350k will begin with NASCAR Nation Pre-Race at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on TNT, TruTV and Max. The regular broadcast will begin on TNT and Max at 3:30 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 3:50 p.m. ET.
On TruTV, the NASCAR In-Season Challenge AltCast of the race will air with Jeff Burton and Larry McReynolds giving their commentary. That coverage will also be simulcast on Max. Also, remember that all of the in-car cameras will also be available on Max.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will serve as the primary support once again. It is scheduled to pull in the garage very early Friday morning for a full day of action.
Teams are scheduled to practice at 4 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards. Both sessions will air live on The CW App and on The CW’s website. Some CW affiliates may choose to air the sessions live, but check your local listings.
Coverage of the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250k will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 4 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 4:50 p.m. ET.
Finally, ARCA Menards Series West teams have their biggest event of the year this weekend. They are scheduled to practice at 1:40 p.m. ET Friday with qualifying following shortly afterwards. These sessions will not be televised.
Coverage of the General Tire 200 is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. ET Friday afternoon on FLORacing.com. The green flag is scheduled to fly around 6:30 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Looking Like?
Race fans can take solace in the fact that in 35 previous appearances for the NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma Raceway, it has rained exactly once during the race. That occurred in 2013. This year will not be No. 2.
Friday’s forecast is for sunny skies with a high around 94°. It’ll be a dry heat as well.
Saturday is going to be a bit cooler, but with sunny skies and a high around 84°. This will probably be the best day of the weekend.
Sunday will have actual clouds in the sky. Just a few of them. Otherwise, it’ll be a little warmer than Saturday with a high around 87°.
Note that the Bay Area has one of the largest temperature ranges in a TV market in the entire country. High temperatures in San Francisco itself during the weekend are forecast to be in the 60s. Areas to the east of the track could flirt with 100°. Regardless, drink lots of fluids and apply sunscreen if you’re going.
TV Ratings Update — Chicago
The NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 earned a 1.1 rating with 2.06 million viewers Sunday afternoon. This is down 45.7% from last year’s race that earned a 2.1 rating with 3.79 million viewers on NBC. It also started more than three hours earlier than last year’s race, which started shortly before 6 p.m. ET.
The 2.06 million viewers are combined between TNT and TruTV. According to Sports Media Watch, the AltCast had 188,000 viewers Sunday. That is up 303% percent from the approximately 62,000 viewers that watched the Atlanta AltCast.
Saturday’s The Loop 110 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series had 1.137 million viewers. That is down roughly 35% from last year’s event, which had 1.8 million viewers on NBC. Despite that, Saturday’s race was the seventh-highest rated Xfinity race of the year to this point.
Interestingly enough, viewership in Chicago itself was up substantially with the race being on WGN as opposed to NBC’s owned-and-operated WMAQ.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.