Sonoma Raceway Alternative Long
Sonoma Raceway Alternative Long Notes:
When people think of NASCAR racing, tight packs of colorful stock cars circling counter-clockwise through an oval racetrack come to mind. High banking turns, lots of passing, even some light bumping here and there. And that perception would be correct if there were no complex, clockwise oriented road courses like Sonoma Raceway, 30 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California. The road course in Sonoma is a 12-turn, 2.39-mile circuit, with an average speed of 77 mph and an average lap time of 1:51.426, enclaved in a region known for its high-quality wineries and its mild weather year-round.
The main attention-grabber in this track is The Carousel, a set of high-speed turns starting from turn four, a tight right-hand corner going into a light, high-speed sweeping turn five, only for turning heavily to the left in six and ending right into a hairpin in the opposite direction at turn seven. That segment is so difficult to maneuver with regular stock cards that NASCAR bypassed it from 1998 until 2019 and only brought it back to life for the circuit's 50th-anniversary celebrations. The new (or old) configuration was so exciting to see that it stayed ever since, and nowadays is the signature feature of Sonoma Raceway.
See our Sonoma Raceway Track Guide for more information on getting the most performance out of this track.
Alternative Long Notes:
The Alternative Long configuration at Sonoma Raceway delivers an extended layout variant distinct from the standard 2.52-mile full course and NASCAR Chute configurations at California's wine country circuit. The Alternative Long designation suggests a specific routing creating increased distance through corner combinations different from traditional layouts. This variant serves events requiring extended challenge with alternative flow compared to Sonoma's established configurations.
Operating the Alternative Long showcases Sonoma's configuration depth beyond the well-known full course and Chute variants. Northern California climate creates ideal racing conditions across much of the season. The Alternative Long layout provides fresh challenges for Sonoma regulars familiar with standard configurations, allowing the facility to offer new experiences through alternative routing while maintaining the same physical infrastructure across varied event requirements.
