I admit it. I was skeptical. I didn’t expect to enjoy a NASCAR race. It’s not that I expected to not like it, but whenever I thought about the sport all that I could think of was watching cars go in circles, looking to cut each other off for better positioning. Which I could see in the parking lot of any mall during the Christmas shopping season.

So this is where I say with great conviction that I was mistaken. Having just witnessed the SaveMart 350 Sprint Cup race at Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway, I defy anyone to attend a NASCAR event and not enjoy at the very least the sheer spectacle.
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Maybe it was the queuing marathon the day before at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, but I wasn’t in the least bit phased today when I exited the 80 Freeway onto California Route 37 and found myself at a dead stop – still 16.5 miles away from Infineon Raceway and the SaveMart 350 Sprint Cup race.

I actually started to calculate it out… “OK, at 10 miles an hour that should put me in the parking lot at just about noon, so I’ll only miss the first few laps”. Imagine my pleasant surprise to find that the lion’s share of the traffic was actually getting off the very next exit at the Six Flags amusement park. My own slowdown didn’t kick in for another six miles or so. Which was OK, because it was a beautiful NoCal morning as I edged ever closer to my first-ever encounter with NASCAR.
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