But for a week each year people descend on the Sonoma Valley for a very different reason, one where wine tours and sightseeing take a back seat to horsepower and speed. Indeed, NASCAR's annual visit to Sonoma Raceway has become a must-watch event, given that more recent races there have resulted in groundbreaking victories, seething tempers, and even a car hanging from a tire barrier. The old canard about road courses being unfit for stock cars? And now the stakes are even higher, given the win-and-likely-in nature of this revamped Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. More...