NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Sonoma Raceway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: Once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
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Steve Luvender: 378
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Dustin Albino: -43
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r/NASCAR Community: -59
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Cameron Richardson: -93
Race 16 of 36: Sonoma
Three of our four pickers selected defending race winner Kyle Busch last week at Gateway … and shared in his disappointment after a last-lap crash in Stage 2 ended the No. 8‘s day early with just two points to show for it. The only non-Busch pick was Steve Luvender, who selected Justin Haley. The No. 51 picked up a ninth-place finish and 28 points.
The second road course of the season will challenge our pickers next. Sonoma Raceway will introduce new unknowns after an offseason repave and expected faster lap times. Will our picking panel ride with familiar left-and-right-turn aces, or try something a little different?
Jayski‘s Dustin Albino: No. 34, Michael McDowell
Dustin‘s pick last week: No. 8, Kyle Busch (2 points)
Total season points: 335 (second place)
Dustin: Years ago, McDowell became increasingly excited when the Next Gen car was announced for the Cup Series. In a way, it has galvanized his career. He has become a top-tier threat on road courses, specifically at Sonoma. In the two races in wine country in the Next Gen car, he has an average finish of fifth and has scored the fourth-most amount of points in each Sonoma race. If he backs those two performances up, it will trend my picks in the right direction. It‘s been a brutal two weeks for yours truly.
NASCAR.com‘s Steve Luvender: No. 22, Joey Logano
Steve‘s pick last week: No. 51, Justin Haley (28 points)
Total season points: 378 (first place)
Steve: First, shoutout to Justin Haley and the No. 51 team for earning me 28 points after a top-10 run at Gateway while my competitors had a rough week. The points leader thanks you. As for Sonoma, it‘s tempting to pick a road-course specialist, considering only five road courses appear on the schedule, and we‘ve got 36 cars to use. However, this is a game of points, and no driver has earned more points at Sonoma over the last three years than Joey Logano. It‘s obvious the No. 22 bunch knows how, in particular, to play the stage-point game, racking up 37 of them here since 2021, and scoring no fewer than 39 total points in a single race during that time. Of course, there‘s no sure thing in NASCAR, but even if Logano doesn‘t pick up his second-career road-course win, I‘m confident he‘ll grab some points this weekend.
NASCAR.com‘s Cameron Richardson: No. 34, Michael McDowell
Cameron‘s pick last week: No. 8, Kyle Busch (2 points)
Total season points: 285 (fourth place)
Cameron: It‘s been trying times over the last three weeks, but I‘m confident (I think?) that McDowell will turn this lull around in the Bay Area, With third and seventh-place finishes at the road course, the No. 34 driver is sure to be in the mix to be the 10th different winner of 2024. McDowell also scored three top 10s on road courses last season, highlighted by his dominant victory around the Brickyard. Win or not, a big points day should be on the cards for the Arizona native.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 99, Daniel Suárez
r/NASCAR‘s pick last week: No. 8, Kyle Busch (2 points)
Total season points: 319 (third place)
Redditors have spoken: it‘s Daniel Suárez this week. The 2022 Sonoma winner was voted the top pick by the r/NASCAR community.
What the community said about the No. 99 in this week‘s voting thread:
u/Dont_hate_the_8: “Remember guys, this isn’t about picking the best driver at each track. Its about picking each driver at their best track.
I think this is it for Suarez. He got a win here in 2022, Trackhouse has been solid overall on RCs with Next gen, and I can’t think of any other track that Suarez is consistently good at. Let’s use him here.”
u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “This is Suarez‘s best track, we gotta use him here. He‘s only win other than Atlanta came here, and this is the best time to use him. We can save truex for anywhere, he works anywhere, and unless a gateway happens he can frontrun anywhere”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
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