There will be a bumper crop of motorsports on tap this weekend, as both the NTT IndyCar Series and NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series will be competing at two iconic tracks in Northern California.
The IndyCar Series will be returning to the picturesque WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca for the 28th time this weekend in the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey, the 14th of 17 races on the 2025 schedule.
Alex Palou, driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, will be looking to continue his domination of the series, as he seeks to lock down his third consecutive championship, and fourth in five years, this weekend. The 28-year-old Spaniard has won seven of 13 races this season and holds a 99-point lead over Mexico’s Pato O’Ward, the driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, heading into the weekend.
Although O’Ward is on a bit of a roll as of late, picking up two wins in the previous three races, Palou will still be the driver to beat, having posted two wins, a second, and a third in his four previous starts at Laguna Seca. Only two other drivers in the 27-car field remain mathematically eligible to win the championship: Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who is 173 points out of the lead, and Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon who trails by 174 points.
There will be plenty of racing all weekend long on the challenging 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, best known for the famous "Corkscrew” turns with its steep six-story drop. In addition to the NTT IndyCar race, the Indy NXT Series, Radical Cup, and Porsche Sprint Challenge will all be competing.
Fans can watch the action beginning with Friday’s practice at 2 p.m. on FS2, Saturday’s second practice at 8:30 a.m. on FS1, and qualifying for the NTT P1 Award at 11:30 p.m. Sunday’s 95-lap race will air live on FOX beginning at noon.
For more information, visit www.weathertechraceway.com or call the box office at 831.242.8200.
To say July has been a busy month at Sonoma Raceway would be an understatement. Just two weeks after NASCAR's Cup Series weekend on the twisting road course, the Wine Country will be invaded by the NHRA’s nitro-inhaling 12,000-horsepower monsters for the 37th Annual DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals, presented by PowerEdge, on July 25-27.
The 12th of 21 races in 2025, the annual summer stop at Sonoma is always one of the highlights of the NHRA season. With cool evening air, a grippy surface, and a near sea-level elevation at just 15 feet, Sonoma has become driver favorite, yielding record-breaking performances over its history.
Last season, Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock), and Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all drank the wine out of the winner’s chalice in Sonoma, while Shawn Langdon, Austin Prock, and Troy Coughlin Jr. won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.
This season, Brown powered to a win at the season kickoff at Gainesville but has struggled since and sits in sixth in the standings. Shawn Langdon’s victory in last weekend’s 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals near Seattle propelled him into a narrow lead in the points over Tony Stewart, who posted wins in Las Vegas and Chicago, while Justin Ashley, Doug Kalitta and fan favorite Brittany Force round out the top five.
Force, the 2013 NHRA Rookie of the Year, two-time Top Fuel World Champion, and 2022 race winner at Sonoma, describes Sonoma Raceway as one of her favorite tracks.
“I have been coming out here since I was a baby, watching my dad race, and I love this track. It is a beautiful facility with the rolling hills; it is such a gorgeous backdrop. One of my favorite wins ever was here. We turned on four win lights in Sunday’s finals, and they were all in the high 3.60’s.”
Force powered her HendrickCars.com dragster to an NHRA national record-setting speed of 341.85 miles per hour in taking down No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta in the semifinals of last weekend’s Northwest Nationals eliminations, before falling to Langdon in the final. Force now owns five of the six fastest speeds in in NHRA history.
Force is hoping to duplicate those speeds and return to the victory podium this weekend.
“I don’t think anybody has this track totally figured out. You can come out and qualify great on Friday and Saturday and then have completely different conditions on Sunday,” explained Force. “It puts a lot of pressure on our crew chief, David Grubnic, to set everything up right, but I have total confidence in him and my crew. We have been successful here in the past, and we would like to do it again.’
In Funny Car, the season has been dominated by John Force Racing teammates Austin Prock and former champion Jack Beckman. Prock, the defending FC world champion, has four wins this season, while Beckman, the 2015 Sonoma winner, has a pair of wins this year. Matt Hagan, former three-time winner Ron Capps, and Paul Lee round out the top five.
Dallas Glenn holds a narrow lead in the Pro Stock points over reigning world champion Greg Anderson, while Vance & Hines Racing pilot Gaige Herrera holds the edge in the 2025 points over his teammate Richard Gadson and last year’s race winner Matt Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series DENSO Sonoma Nationals qualifying will feature two rounds at 4:30 and 6:45 p.m. on Friday, July 25 and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, July 26, at 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 27. Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, and eliminations at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
To purchase tickets to the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals, fans can visitwww.sonomaraceway.com or call 800-870-7223.
NASCAR Cup News:
NASCAR recently announced that it will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June 19-21 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy.
All three national series – Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck – will be competing in the new event which replaces the downtown Chicago event that ran the past three years. The course layout is not complete but is expected to be around 3 miles.
NASCAR has a long history of racing in Southern California, most recently at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana from 1997 through 2023, when the track was permanently closed, and at a temporary short track inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2022 through 2024. NASCAR has also raced in Southern California at the Ontario Motor Speedway in the 1970s, Riverside Raceway from 1958 to 1988 and even the 1/2-mile dirt track Ascot Park in the 1950s.
