Winning a Cup Series race at the 2.55-mile Sonoma Raceway is no menial task. But for those who live up to the challenge the rewards are well worth it. Joining the most admirable trophies in NASCAR is Sonoma’s wine bottle decorated trophy and a wine goblet filled with California’s own. What better way to celebrate in the victory lane than sipping on fresh cabernet out of a humongous goblet?
Advertisement
Sonoma County, which stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Mayacamas Mountains, is the largest producer of wine in California’s Wine Country region. The two prime reasons why it is so are the climate and soil that create an ideal environment for growing grapes. Naturally, a motorsports event of the highest order that is held in such a county will need a worthy prize that illustrates the region’s culture.
Drinking rich wine from the goblet with the wine bottle trophy on a stand nearby is a dream for any young racer who enters NASCAR. Those who have competed for the honor detail why it is so. The defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney said last year, “To me, that’s always been a cool tradition. I really enjoy wine, so I’d like to see what they have to offer. How cool is it to drink one out of a goblet?”
“And it’s your trophy that’d be like your nightly wine glass at home. I think that would be like the most gangster thing.” Despite his admiration for it, Blaney hasn’t won one of the goblets. The closest he came was third place in 2019. A driver who knows slightly better about drinking wine at Sonoma than Blaney is Kevin Harvick. The icon won there back in 2017.
He said before last year’s race, his final one at the track, “The one thing that I have learned about winning at Sonoma is you’re going to ruin a suit and whatever is underneath it because you’re probably going to spill wine all over it in victory lane. So, that’s a good problem to have and hopefully in the last year we can get to victory lane and ruin another suit.”
Harvick ended up finishing 11th in the race. Of those who’re a part of the entry list for the coming Sunday’s race, Martin Truex Jr. has the most experience with winning at Sonoma. He has drunk out of the goblet four times, the latest being last year. Hopes are that he will do so once again and level with Jeff Gordon as the track’s most successful driver.
