Sonoma race to welcome Carousel course’s return

The Carousel is returning to Sonoma Raceway for next year’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race.

Raceway officials announced over the weekend that the original 12-turn, 2.52-mile roadcourse layout from 1968, when the track opened, will be back for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 race June 23 as part of the track’s 50th-anniversary celebration.

That means the return of the sweeping downhill corner known as the Carousel. It plunges from Turn 4 down through Turns 5 and 6 and navigates a turn of more than 200 degrees before dropping onto the raceway’s longest straightaway into the Turn 7 hairpin.

Sonoma Raceway President and general manager Steve Page said in a statement that the Carousel is “a corner where history has been made.” One of those moments was Dale Earnhardt’s critical pass of Mark Martin in 1995 in Earnhardt’s first NASCAR road-course victory.

Fox Sports analyst Jeff Gordon, a five-time Sonoma winner, said, “The Carousel adds a technical aspect to the track that will be a challenge for the drivers.”

NASCAR used the full 12turn course beginning with its first Pacific Coast Late Model Division race at what was then known as Sears Point Raceway in 1969 through numerous Cup Series, West Series, Southwest Series and Truck Series events until 1997.

Since 1998, NASCAR has competed on a shorter, 1.99mile configuration, using a bypass connecting Turns 4 and 7 known as the Chute.

The 2019 Toyota/Save Mart 350 is expected to run 85 laps, as opposed to the previous 110. The race distance will remain roughly 214 miles.

Raceway officials said the departure of the IndyCar Series had no bearing on the reconfiguration of the circuit. The last IndyCar race at Sonoma for the foreseeable future was held Sept. 16. Next year, the series returns to Laguna Seca in Monterey.