PHOTOS BY BOB TARVIN/TARVIN IMAGES CLINT BOWYER/No.15 Toyota brought home the first-place Toyota/Save Mart 350 trophy to Michael Waltrip Racing. Despite a very late race caution bringing the Green-White-Finish end to the race, Bowyer was the jubilant winner. To celebrate his victory he did two doughnuts, one right in front of his crew lined up […]

The weather was warm, sunny and breezy for the mobs of fans everywhere – in the garage, pit lane, Driver’s Intros, Pre-Race ceremonies, etc. It’s difficult to get a handle on how large is the crowd. While the grandstands may appear less than full, the aerial shots show that the hillsides all around the course […]

Sunday morning at Sonoma is bright, sunny and chilly, but not breezy. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage is busy with all the teams setting up their Pit Lane ‘compounds,’ running loud engine tests on their cars, and the VIPs and other Sunday guests are starting to arrive. The Over-The-Wall Crews have flown in overnight, […]

It was indeed Happy Hour for JEFF GORDON/No.24 Chevrolet Saturday noon at Sonoma for the last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice session. He continued his domination from the first session, in which he turned a lap of 94.312 mph/1:15.961 in twelve laps. Gordon, who grew up in nearby Vallejo CA, led the entire last session, […]

It was a gorgeous Saturday morning at Sonoma for the first morning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice. The skies were blue, the clouds were white and puffy, the breeze was brisk and fresh, and forty Cup cars went on track in preparation for Sunday’s 24th Annual Toyota/Save Mart 350 race. The session was relatively trouble-free. […]

MARCOS AMBROSE of Australia took the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole position for the second week in a row, piloting his No.9 Ford to a 1:15.203/95.262 mph. He pulled the fast lap out of his Akubra late in the afternoon, under partly cloudy skies, putting him in the catbird seat for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup […]

NASCAR held a 90-minute practice session Friday at Sonoma, in changeable weather. The Northern California elevated track is one of two road courses on the Sprint Cup Series, the other being Watkins Glen. Forty-four drivers are entered including the usual suspects as ‘Road Racing Ringers.’ One of them, TOMY DRISSI/No.10 Chevrolet is making his Cup […]

The weather was somewhat misty, grey, overcast, gloomy and cold Friday morning at the Northern California wine country road course known as Sonoma. There had been evidence of a slight drizzle early on. The weather forecast called for more of the same all weekend. Later on it tried to spritz and failed. The sun played […]

Veteran stock car drivers, MARVIN PANCH and DONNIE ALLISON of the Alabama Gang delighted the assemblage at the Sonoma Media Lunch Thursday in San Francisco, in advance of this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the track now known as Sonoma, formerly Infineon Raceway. The two were full of tales and jocularity. […]