Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen have given Sonoma’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race a sharper Cup Series edge before NASCAR’s main Sunday show in Wine Country.
NASCAR’s official entry list for Saturday’s PitBoss/FoodMaxx 250 confirms 38 cars for the 19th points-paying race of the O’Reilly season, with Zilisch, van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain all listed as Cup full-timers dropping into the field. The race follows a bruising Naval Base Coronado weekend and now becomes more than a support act before the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
Zilisch is the defending winner of the Sonoma O’Reilly race and returns in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with Rodney Childers listed as crew chief. Van Gisbergen is also entered in a JR Motorsports Chevrolet, taking the No. 9 seat one day before he resumes his Cup road-course reset after his immediate Sonoma shot following the San Diego crash.
Sonoma gives JR Motorsports another road-course measure
For JR Motorsports, the entry list creates a strong road-course benchmark. Zilisch brings the defending-winner status, van Gisbergen brings elite road-course pedigree, and the team already arrived in California with recent road-course pressure after Sam Mayer’s San Diego chance to break JRM’s road-course grip.
Jesse Love is also entered for Richard Childress Racing, keeping another title-relevant name in the Saturday field after his San Diego weekend carried a wider O’Reilly Series title test. The California swing has quickly become a form guide for drivers who need road-course points as much as Cup exposure.
The official NASCAR O’Reilly entry list also places Chastain in the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, giving the race three Cup-calibre reference points across different teams. Jayski’s Sonoma race page lists Saturday’s O’Reilly event at 5:30 p.m. ET, with Cup practice and qualifying earlier in the afternoon before Sunday’s 3:30 p.m. ET Cup race.
That makes Saturday a useful read on more than outright speed. For Zilisch and van Gisbergen, Sonoma is a chance to build rhythm before the Cup weekend reaches its sharper end; for the O’Reilly regulars, it is a chance to beat Cup names on a circuit where precision usually matters more than reputation.
