San Francisco >> There are many NASCAR drivers hungry for a win at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. On Thursday, however, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones had to settle for some great food instead to fill their appetites as they answered questions from the media.
The luncheon, held in San Francisco at McCormick & Kuleto’s Seafood Restaurant at Ghirardelli Square, kicked off the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Recent Daytona 500 winner Busch, along with youngsters Suarez and Jones, spoke with the media as they prepared for the weekend.
Busch, who won the race in 2011, has seven top five finishes in 16 races at the raceway, the most for any active driver. On Thursday he said he had good memories of his win six years ago.
“The best moment of that race for me was around lap six when I said to myself, ‘Wow, this car is really fast,’” Busch said, with a laugh. “Around lap 10 I told myself that I had a fast, winning car here and not to mess it up.”
Busch said he loves coming up to Sonoma, but that a lot has changed since he last won the race in 2011.
“It’s a fun atmosphere of a road course and I think our fans dig it,” Busch said. “With the atmosphere of the track and watching the big heavy stock cars going up the hill, down the hill, having left turns, right turns, shifting gears and there is always great racing action in all the corners of the track. The race seems to have been won recently in passes off turn 2, but you have to get that good braking zone going into turn 7 and into 11. You need to find that rhythm that doesn’t chew your tires. I won the race a few years ago with a two-stop strategy, but this year with the stages and a yellow flag at 25 and at 50 before going all the way to 110 we’ll have to see how the tire wire is performing in practice. But I anticipate three stops minimum and maybe even four.”
Daniel Suarez, who is a rookie of the year contender and the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR series, was asked what it was like to be a role model for young drivers from Mexico.
“I’ve talked to a lot of Hispanic fans or just other guys around and I feel like I’m exactly the same as them,” Suarez said. “Six years go when I moved to the U.S. I didn’t speak any English, didn’t have any money or sponsors. I just came looking for an opportunity like all these guys. I’m not any different than all these guys. I have learned that in this country when you work hard it eventually pays back. So I’m just super grateful to be in this country and working hard by doing what I love to do and slowly follow my dream.”
Eric Jones, who signed a deal Furniture Row Racing about a year ago, was the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion.
“Yeah I’m excited,” Jones said about the upcoming race. “I’ve had fun on road courses and I’ve had some good runs with truck races, good runs in some XFINITY races. Obviously a very different world here for me than what I grew up doing, but I’m always looking forward to a new challenge.”
Busch said he’s was thrilled to see such a “great group of young, diverse” drivers recently and said he’s always giving advice to those that ask for it. That being said, he still said the races are very competitive.
“Yeah I mean we all want to win and we will wreck our own mom to just win one of these races,” Busch joked.
The Toyota/Save Mart 350 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, which is 110 laps, is Sunday at noon. The qualifying races take place on Saturday.
Last year’s winner was Tony Stewart.
