SONOMA, Calif. Reigning TA Champion Paul Menard earned his second win of the season in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli, leading every lap of a close and competitive race at Sonoma Raceway.

Menard was challenged fervently by three-time TA Champion Chris Dyson, who was anxious for redemption after a crash in Sebring kept him out of the seat for Round 2 at Road Atlanta.

However, despite Dysons valiant efforts, Menard took the checkered flag with a narrow 0.291-second margin of victory. Menard (No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford Mustang) took the green flag from the first position after a washed-out qualifying session led to the grid being set by practice speeds. Starting the race side-by-side with Dyson (No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang), Menard pulled out to the lead smoothly, but Dyson remained tight on his tail. Behind them, third-place starter Adam Andretti (No. 17 Top Liner Chevrolet Camaro) and fourth-place starter Brent Crews (No. 2 Weaver Concepts/Mobil 1 Dodge Challenger) battled for position.

Crews was able to complete the pass on Andretti on lap 16, but Andretti reclaimed the spot two laps later. That same lap, Menard began to face lapped traffic, and his 2.5-second advantage over Dyson dwindled to just three-tenths of a second, beginning a game of cat and mouse for the lead.

At the same time, fifth-place starter Tomy Drissi (No. 8 Trench Shoring Co./Motul Chevrolet Camaro) began to stalk Crews, and he completed the pass on the 2023 CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series champion on lap 23.

Following the pass, Crews piloted his Dodge Challenger down pit road so that his team could address a flat tire. David Pintaric (No. 57 Kryderacing Ford Mustang) moved into the fifth position after starting at the rear of the field for missing the driver meeting, advancing from 18th overall.

Unfortunately, Pintarics progress came to an abrupt stop when he and Andretti came together in Turn 10, resulting in a spectacular crash into the tire barrier. While both drivers walked away safely, their day was done and their cars were severely damaged.

The crash brought out a full-course yellow on lap 28, leading to a five-lap shootout when racing resumed on lap 35. Menard led the field to the green, but Dyson was all over his rear bumper. On lap 37, Dyson pulled side-by-side with Menard, but was unable to complete the pass.

Over the remaining three laps, the two had an exciting battle to the finish, with Menard edging out Dyson by less than three-tenths of a second. Menard and Dyson were followed across the finish line by Drissi, Crews and Amy Ruman (No. 23 McNichols Co./Valley Automotive Group Chevrolet Corvette).

It was a battle, said Menard in GYM WEED Winners Circle. We set the pace early. The track wasnt completely dry, so for the first couple of laps, we kind of tiptoed. After five laps in, we started pushing pretty hard and I felt like we had a good pace. However, we started getting loose throughout the run and Chris [Dyson] started closing up. I made a couple of mistakes with hitting the curbs. The curbs were still wet, so when I hit them, I blew a couple of corners. Chris closed up and then we played cat and mouse with traffic. That caution helped us. We were better on short runs, while Chris was better on long runs. We faced a lot of adversity this morning with 3GT Racing. The guys battled. They came in at seven oclock and had troubles with the truck, and then we had some engine issues that Tony and the boys fixed up. We led every lap and won the race. It was a great points day, and now Im looking forward to Laguna Seca. Ive never been there, so we have 20 minutes of practice to figure it out.

TA Cups first combination event with the National Championship was an exciting one, with multiple lead changes and hard racing action. Michelle Nagai (No. 72 Nagai Racing/Berkeley Jet Drive Chevrolet Camaro) started first in class, followed by Jim Guthrie (No. 62 Guthries Garage/CEI Ford Mustang) and Ken Sutherland (No. 85 Kallberg Racing Dodge Challenger). Before the conclusion of the first lap, Guthrie went over the slick track curbing, losing control, bumping into Chris Evans in the No. 92 Central Welding Supply/Pinnacle Alloys Ford Mustang and dropping to the rear of the field.

Nagai had dominant speed, pulling several seconds ahead of now second-place Sutherland. She led the first 22 laps of the race, but she got into trouble in lapped traffic, making contact with an SGT car and heavily damaging her front end, which took her out of contention. Sutherland took over the lead on lap 23, by which point Guthrie had worked his way back through the field and into second. When the caution came out on lap 28, Sutherland led Guthrie, Evans, Ken Thwaits (No. 9 Franklin Road Chevrolet Camaro) and John Moore (No. 27 JM Environmental Ford Mustang) across the stripe.

There was a shuffle of cars when racing went back to green, and suddenly it was Guthrie who emerged with the lead. The TA Cup entrants battled hard as the final laps ticked down, with Guthrie taking the checkered flag, followed by Thwaits and Sutherland for the podium spots. Moore was scored fourth and Evans finished fifth.

TA Cups first combination event with the National Championship was an exciting one, with multiple lead changes and hard racing action. Michelle Nagai (No. 72 Nagai Racing/Berkeley Jet Drive Chevrolet Camaro) started first in class, followed by Jim Guthrie (No. 62 Guthries Garage/CEI Ford Mustang) and Ken Sutherland (No. 85 Kallberg Racing Dodge Challenger). Before the conclusion of the first lap, Guthrie went over the slick track curbing, losing control, bumping into Chris Evans in the No. 92 Central Welding Supply/Pinnacle Alloys Ford Mustang and dropping to the rear of the field.

Nagai had dominant speed, pulling several seconds ahead of now second-place Sutherland. She led the first 22 laps of the race, but she got into trouble in lapped traffic, making contact with an SGT car and heavily damaging her front end, which took her out of contention. Sutherland took over the lead on lap 23, by which point Guthrie had worked his way back through the field and into second. When the caution came out on lap 28, Sutherland led Guthrie, Evans, Ken Thwaits (No. 9 Franklin Road Chevrolet Camaro) and John Moore (No. 27 JM Environmental Ford Mustang) across the stripe.

There was a shuffle of cars when racing went back to green, and suddenly it was Guthrie who emerged with the lead. The TA Cup entrants battled hard as the final laps ticked down, with Guthrie taking the checkered flag, followed by Thwaits and Sutherland for the podium spots. Moore was scored fourth and Evans finished fifth.

As the only SGT competitor in the National Championship, Joshua Carlson easily piloted his No. 36 Enseva/Diercks Ltd./TC Fab Ford Mustang to the victory, keeping the car clean and battling it out with TA Cup cars for much of the event. When he crossed the finish line, he scored his third-straight win of the season.

In the Western Championship, Rudy Revak (No. 7 XYNGULAR Pontiac Grand Prix) battled JD Koos No. 12 Nicole Douglas Design Porsche GT3 Cup 991.1. Revak had the speed advantage, but his win was sealed when Koos tangled with a TA Cup competitor, sustaining heavy damage, which forced him to retire. Meanwhile, Revak completed the duration of the race, crossing the finish line to take the race victory.

As the only SGT competitor in the National Championship, Joshua Carlson easily piloted his No. 36 Enseva/Diercks Ltd./TC Fab Ford Mustang to the victory, keeping the car clean and battling it out with TA Cup cars for much of the event. When he crossed the finish line, he scored his third-straight win of the season.

In the Western Championship, Rudy Revak (No. 7 XYNGULAR Pontiac Grand Prix) battled JD Koos No. 12 Nicole Douglas Design Porsche GT3 Cup 991.1. Revak had the speed advantage, but his win was sealed when Koos tangled with a TA Cup competitor, sustaining heavy damage, which forced him to retire. Meanwhile, Revak completed the duration of the race, crossing the finish line to take the race victory.