I spent this past weekend at what I affectionately call my happy place: Sonoma Raceway. I live about a 20-minute drive south of the venue, and the annual date at the track is one of my favorite weekends of the year — outside of family commitments, of course. Just as I have for the past few years, I got to be an official photographer for Frontstretch, and it’s always an amazing experience and privilege, especially at a road course with all the different options and vantage points to shoot from. Plus, the unexpected eight cautions in the NASCAR Cup Series race really helped me traverse all the turns before the halfway point of the race.
And what a weekend on track it was too with Shane van Gisbergen muscling his way past a not-so-amused Austin Hill on a late-race caution to record his second win a row in the Xfinity Series. Then the California kid, Kyle Larson, got it done on Sunday (June 9) in the Cup race with a stirring and popular late run through the field, based on the noise of the crowd roaring him on, on a picture-perfect day in wine country.
I was in turn 8 for the closing laps. When Martin Truex Jr. got past Chris Buescher and then Kyle Larson went ahead the next lap, the photographer next to me looked and shrugged. Yes, you have the pylon but the fact is when you’re in a particular corner it’s really hard to understand what is happening elsewhere on the track. And this pair of battles for position caught us both somewhat by surprise.
As I drove out of the track, sunburned, knackered and with a huge grin on my face, it got me thinking about two things — the significance of a home track and the importance of the track on the overall NASCAR schedule. I’ll start with the former.
Truth be told, I never wanted to move to NorCal. I was settled and happy living in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, availing myself of the always-on New York City lifestyle – albeit paying an exorbitant, aka extortionate, amount to rent a sliver of real estate at the top of a fourth-floor walkup, replete with rats the size of small house cats, half a block from Union Square on MacDougal Street. But my then wife was insistent that she wanted to move home to San Francisco, and despite the allure of the Big Apple, I knew that starting a family in New York was not going to be an easy proposition. But despite that, I was still reticent.
So we came out west for a visit. And knowing my love for NASCAR, my ex suggested we make Sonoma Raceway one of our very first stops. It was, to her credit, an especially smart move. Nestled in the South Sonoma Mountains on the intersection of California Highways 37 and 121, the track marks the start of Wine Country. And as you drive up on 37, if you didn’t know the area, you’d have no idea there was a top-class motorsports venue on the other side of the rolling hills. We finagled our way into the venue and onto the track, and I took some photos in the corner of turn 1 to mark the occasion. And as easily as that, our decision was made — not of course that I really had much choice in the matter, but I like to tell the story this way.
In the 10 years I lived in California, I’ve not missed a NASCAR weekend, with the exception of the fan-free COVID year of 2020, and I’ve also attended all the NTT IndyCar Series races until 2018 when the series switched the final race of the season to Laguna Seca. I will never forget the sheer joy of the fans in 2021, returning to the venue after the pandemic-blighted race the previous year.
Along with my church, watching cars drive fast and turn left and right has been the only two constants in my decade in NorCal. And when I went through an extremely difficult personal situation a few years back, I would drive up to the track at night just to center myself and be close to somewhere I knew lifted my soul. Those late-night drives to the track, with a crushed heart and — I’m not ashamed to admit — crying my eyes out, helped me start to heal. And maybe you think this is stupid, but I promise you it made a difference to me. And that right there is the power of a home track.
So why is Sonoma important for NASCAR?
Firstly, location. With the demise (for now at least) of Auto Club Speedway, a six-hour drive south in Southern California, it’s the one race in the extremely significant media market of California. NASCAR has its Southeastern roots, but there are fans throughout the country. It’s a race in the most populous state and the fifth-largest economy in the world, outpacing countries like the U.K., India, France and Italy to name but a few.
And while NASCAR can’t be everywhere, having at least one race in California is a must for a national sport. We also have 35 years of continuous racing at the venue, and for a while — along with Watkins Glen — it was one of the only two road courses on the schedule. And there’s something to be said for continuity in this ever-changing world of ours.
It’s also a different type of track to anywhere else we race. And yes, while it is a road course like others on the slate, it looks different, feels different and runs differently. Variety is important.
In addition, it’s a very popular venue for the drivers, teams and the industry as a whole. “I know drivers who circle this event on their calendar, because they all love to come out to the Sonoma Valley,” long-time NASCAR veteran, and at the time General Manager of the track, Jill Gregory said in 2022.
And it’s not just the drivers. It’s me too. Once the official schedule is released for 2025, the first date I’ll look for is my home track. And I’ll start looking forward to the weekend from that point on.
About the author
Danny starts his 12th year with Frontstretch in 2018, writing the Tuesday signature column 5 Points To Ponder. An English transplant living in San Francisco, by way of New York City, he’s had an award-winning marketing career with some of the biggest companies sponsoring sports. Working with racers all over the country, his freelance writing has even reached outside the world of racing to include movie screenplays.
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Spectacular story. Thanks for sharing.