Sonar Metering @ 96K

There is no setup for a higher sample rate. One big thing to be aware of is the record meters in Sonar are measuring the level coming off the disk. The faders in record mode will not impact the level actually being recorded. It is thus important to set them to unity to get accurate metering while recording. The level is set at your sound card's preamp.  

John
To make it as clear as I can sample rate has no impact on metering or levels. Nor does bit depth.  0 dB is 0 dB no matter what.

Actually, to be technically correct, peak levels might be a little higher at higher sample rates because of the relationship between sample rate and intersample peaks.
 
But it's not something anyone needs to worry about under ordinary circumstances unless one is wondering why a peak level came out 1dB higher after a sample rate conversion.
 
But unless there's a bug, Sonar's meters are indeed always accurate regardless of sample rate or bit depth.

What do you have Render Bit Depth set to?
 
If you have it set to 24bit or less and have a track that goes above 0dBFS for some reason, when you freeze it it will clip at 0dBFS. 
 
If you need to have things go above 0dBFS or do so accidentally* for some reason, make sure Render Bit Depth is set to 32 bit.
 
 
*Expect someone to lecture you on gain staging here shortly.

Note the signal flow here and where the pre and post meters are:
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Mixing.07.html
 
If you are getting different readings from pre/post metering, then it's because you are changing the gain between them with the faders/pan/PC/FX.
 
When recording, your audio interface level shouldn't be anywheres near 0dBFS and for soft synths you need to set the output of the synth lower.

Thanks for pointing out the signal flow chart, that really helps.  
 
I just tried a few tests.  I used Reset Mix to clear all the FX from the project for testing, which made very little difference to the pegged level on the drum track, when viewed in Pre Playback metering.  The only way to lower that level was to lower the output on the VSTi from 0db (currently) to around -7.5db, which puts the pre meter close to -6db.   
 
Regarding Bristol's post on the freeze options,  The "Track Fx" option was not checked in freeze options.  According to the help file, it should be checked by default.  I've never changed that setting until now, not sure how it became unchecked.  According to the help file, checking this box will also freeze the Fx, to conserve CPU power, if I understand it correctly?   I often freeze tracks with the intent of saving CPU power, I didn't know that without checking the Track Fx option, I really wasn't saving much CPU power.