By David Morgan, Associate Editor
The second half of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season rolls on as the West Coast comes calling this weekend, with Sonoma Raceway playing host to Sunday’s running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
A 12-turn technical road course situated about 30 miles north of San Francisco, Sonoma is one of six road courses on the 2022 schedule, with Sonoma first joining the circuit back in 1989.
Over the years, the course at Sonoma Raceway has gone through a few configuration changes. When the track was first placed on the schedule as a replacement for the now-defunct Riverside International Raceway, the layout included a 2.52-mile course that used the drag strip as part of the course.
However, in 1998, the track went through its first major reconfiguration, with an 890-foot chute placed between Turns 4 and 7, cutting off the “Carousel” section of the track and dropping the track length down to 1.949 miles. The track went through a final reconfiguration in 2001 with the installation of Turn 7a, which brought the track to a 1.990 mile, 12-turn layout that was in place through 2018.
In a throwback to the track’s early days, Sonoma reverted back to the original layout in 2019, with the reintroduction of the Carousel, but after a two-year experiment, the chute layout returns for this year’s return to California wine country.
“We heard from many fans and drivers how much they loved it when we raced the Chute,” said Sonoma Raceway EVP and General Manager Jill Gregory. “The Carousel was part of the original course and we reverted back to it for our 50th Anniversary in 2019 and used it again in 2021. But we race to bring excitement and drama to the fans, and an overwhelming majority of them asked us to bring back the Chute.”
By the Numbers
What: Toyota Save Mart 350, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race No. 16 of 36
Where: Sonoma Raceway – Sonoma, California (First Race: 1989)
TV/Radio: FOX Sports…
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