The Toyota/Save Mart 350 is a stock car racing event in the NASCAR Cup Series that has been held annually at Sonoma Raceway at Sears Point in Sonoma, California since 1989.
The race joined the NASCAR circuit in 1989. It was added as a replacement for the Budweiser 400 at Riverside, which closed in 1988. The race has undergone several name and length changes since its inception. The NASCAR "West Series" held a combination race from 1989 to 1997 and has held a standalone race since 2006. Due to the track's unique layout, the race generates annual discussion, with media, fans, and participants both in favor and against racing this event. Due to its unique layout, "road course ringers" are common, a NASCAR term standing for drivers that appear on the NASCAR circuit only for the road course races.
Shane van Gisbergen is the defending winner of the event.
Race history
From 1989 to 1997, 2019 and 2021, NASCAR uses the full road course, best known for sports car racing. Subtle changes to some of the turns accommodated the stock cars and increased passing widths. Ricky Rudd won the inaugural Cup race at Sonoma.
The 1991 Sonoma Cup race ended in a controversial fashion. With seven laps left in the race, Mark Martin tried to pass Tommy Kendall, subbing for an injured Kyle Petty. The two made contact, resulting in Martin crashing into the tire barrier on a pull-over site and Kendall cutting his tire. The lead went to Davey Allison. Then, with two laps left, pole-sitter Rudd passed Allison for the lead but Allison spun out from contact in the final turn. Rudd led to the white flag and was contending to win the race, his second Sonoma victory, and to advance his championship points to the lead. However, as he came around to take the win, Rudd was black-flagged just three feet from the finish line. Allison was declared the winner of the race with Rudd's controversial penalty while Rudd finished in second place.
The last Sonoma NASCAR race held at the previous road course passage was in 1997 on October 5 at a Truck Series event. There, Joe Ruttman won the race but controversy erupted when Rich Bickle blamed a loss of a top-ten finish on rookie Boris Said. Bickle cut down Said's tire and in reply Said waited for Bickle to come back around and crashed him. NASCAR, after a brief red flag for a massive crash in a wall of tires, disqualified Said and fined him $10,000 for his actions.
In 1998, the circuit for the NASCAR event was shorted from the full road course to a modified road course with the addition of the Chute from turn 4 to turn 7, bypassing turns 5 and 6.
In 2001, the Chute was modified to such that the NASCAR circuit measured long.
The 2014 running of the race, the final event from Sonoma broadcast on TNT, was dedicated to NASCAR designer Ray Fox, as mentioned in a moment of silence dedicated to his memory, as well as in the opening invocation.
In 2019, the race returned to the full road course layout to commemorate its 50th anniversary. This marked the return of the Carousel section after a 22-year hiatus.
The 2020 race was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the race was reverted to racing the club configuration.
Gilligan's Island From 1989 to 2001, the pit road could only accommodate 34 pit stalls. In the early years, some teams were required to share pit stalls while other teams were forced to pit inside the garage area. When cars dropped out of the race, their pit stalls were reassigned to cars who were sharing.
Before the 1994 race, a makeshift auxiliary pit road was constructed inside the hairpin (turn 11) nicknamed Gilligan's Island. Cars that had the nine slowest qualifying speeds were relegated to these pit stalls. Pitting in this area was considered an inconvenience and a competitive disadvantage, more so than even the disadvantages one would experience pitting on the backstretch on a short track at the time.
Since the length of the auxiliary pit road was significantly shorter than the main pit road, the cars that pitted there were held from 15 to 20 seconds to make up for the time that would have been spent if the cars had traveled the entire main pit road.
Pitting on Gilligan's Island had several other inconveniences. The location (the staging area for drag races) was landlocked by the racecourse, and crew members were unable to leave once the race began. Teams sent only the primary pit crew to Gilligan's Island, and once they were there, they could not access the garage area or their transporters to collect spare parts/tools. The only repairs that could be made were routine tire changes and refueling, as well as only minor repairs. Other auxiliary pit crew members, who were not part of the main crew, were staged in the garage area and would have to service the car if it required major repairs. If a team pitting on Gilligan's Island dropped out of the race, the crew was unable to pack up their supplies and prepare to leave (a common practice at other tracks) until the race was over.
Changes to the track in 2002 that included a separation of the drag strip from the front stretch, removal of the main drag strip grandstand, and the new control tower for road racing led to the pit road being expanded by extending pit road into the main straight and moving the pit exit up the hill past Turn 1, thereby expanding it to 43 cars, and Gilligan's Island was abandoned.
Trophy The trophy is in the form of a wine bottle holder paired with a giant wine glass as a nod to the Sonoma County wine industry.
Past winners YearDateDriverTeamManufacturerRace distanceRace timeAverage speed(mph)ReportRef Laps Miles (km) layout 1989 June 1126 Ricky Rudd King Racing Buick74186.48 (300.11)2:27:0376.088 Report 1990 June 1027 Rusty Wallace Blue Max Racing Pontiac74186.48 (300.11)2:41:3569.245 Report 1991 June 928 Davey Allison Robert Yates Racing Ford74186.48 (300.11)2:33:2072.97 Report 1992 June 74 Ernie Irvan Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet74186.48 (300.11)2:17:2681.413 Report 1993 May 1615 Geoff Bodine Bud Moore Engineering Ford74186.48 (300.11)2:25:1777.013 Report 1994 May 1528 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford74186.48 (300.11)2:24:2777.458 Report 1995 May 73 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet74186.48 (300.11)2:38:1870.681 Report 1996 May 52 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing Ford74186.48 (300.11)2:24:0377.673 Report 1997 May 56 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford74186.48 (300.11)2:27:3875.788 Report layout 1998 June 2824 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet112218.288 (351.3)3:00:5672.387 Report 1999 June 2724 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet112218.288 (351.3)3:06:0670.378 Report layout 2000 June 2524 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet112222.88 (358.69)2:46:1478.789 Report layout 2001 June 2420 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac112224 (360.493)2:57:0675.889 Report layout 2002 June 2328 Ricky Rudd Robert Yates Racing Ford110218.9 (352.285)2:42:0881.007 Report 2003 June 2231 Robby Gordon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:57:5573.821 Report 2004 June 2724 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:49:3477.456 Report 2005 June 2620 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)3:00:1872.845 Report 2006 June 2524 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:57:3673.953 Report 2007 June 2442 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge110218.9 (352.285)2:56:1174.547 Report 2008 June 2218 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota112*222.88 (358.69)2:54:5676.445 Report 2009 June 219 Kasey Kahne Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge113*224.87 (361.893)3:10:0071.012 Report 2010 June 2048 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:56:3874.357 Report 2011 June 2622 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge110218.9 (352.285)2:54:1075.411 Report 2012 June 2415 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota112*222.88 (358.69)2:39:5583.624 Report2013June 2356 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota110218.9 (352.285)2:51:2076.658 Report2014June 2299 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford110218.9 (352.285)2:51:3076.583 Report 2015June 2818 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota110218.9 (352.285)2:55:3974.774 Report 2016June 2614 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:42:1380.966 Report 2017 June 254 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford110218.9 (352.285)2:46:5278.71 Report 2018 June 2478 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota110218.9 (352.285)2:38:2882.882 Report layout 2019 June 2319 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota90226.8 (364.999)2:42:0983.922 Report 2020* Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 June 65 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet92*231.84 (373.11)3:14:4271.445 Report layout 2022 June 1299 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:48:2278.008 Report 2023 June 1119 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota110218.9 (352.285)2:40:1281.989 Report 2024 June 95 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:56:1474.526 Report 2025 July 1388 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:54:5575.087 Report 2026 June 2897 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet110218.9 (352.285)2:37:5383.188 Report
2008, 2009, 2012, and 2021: Race extended due to a NASCAR overtime finish. 2020: Race canceled and moved to Charlotte due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple winners (drivers) # wins Driver Years won 5 Jeff Gordon 1998–2000, 2004, 2006 4 Martin Truex Jr. 2013, 2018–2019, 2023 3 Tony Stewart 2001, 2005, 2016 2 Ernie Irvan 1992, 1994 Rusty Wallace 1990, 1996 Ricky Rudd 1989, 2002 Kyle Busch 2008, 2015 Kyle Larson 2021, 2024 Shane van Gisbergen 2025–2026
Multiple winners (teams) # wins Team Years won 8 Hendrick Motorsports 1998–2000, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2021, 2024 6 Joe Gibbs Racing 2001, 2005, 2008, 2015, 2019, 2023 3 Robert Yates Racing 1991, 1994, 2002 Trackhouse Racing 2022, 2025–2026 2 Richard Childress Racing 1995, 2003 Penske Racing 1996, 2011 Michael Waltrip Racing 2012–2013 Roush Fenway Racing 1997, 2014 Stewart–Haas Racing 2016–2017
Manufacturer wins # wins Manufacturer Years won 16 Chevrolet 1992, 1995, 1998–2000, 2003–2006, 2010, 2016, 2021–2022, 2024-2026 8 Ford 1991, 1993–1994, 1996–1997, 2002, 2014, 2017 7 Toyota 2008, 2012–2013, 2015, 2018–2019, 2023 3 Dodge 2007, 2009, 2011 2 Pontiac 1990, 2001
USAC stock car NorCal 200 1970 Roger McCluskey
Race summaries 1989: Ricky Rudd won the inaugural race under King Racing, which proved to be his only victory of 1989. 1990: Rusty Wallace in his new No. 27 car won the race at Sonoma after Mark Martin got loose with three laps left. 1991: After Mark Martin and Tommy Kendall clashed, Davey Allison took the lead in a huge margin against Ricky Rudd. Ricky Rudd nonetheless caught up and in the final turn with 2 laps left, he spun Allison around. Allison contended second after turning a 180 to hold on to the second spot. Ricky Rudd led the final lap and in the final turn, he waved to his pit crew and gave the victory fist but was instead shown a black-flag at the last second. His furious pit crew retorted to NASCAR that it was plain racing but nonetheless Rudd was disqualified from his victory and put in second place behind the eventual winner Davey Allison. 1992: Ernie Irvan, who was black-flagged and given a stop-and-go penalty after the start of the race for jumping the start, wowed the fans by pulling up to the lead in the final laps to hold off Terry Labonte for the victory. The race was also notable for having been held just hours after the death of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.