Sonoma Raceway to bring back the Carousel for next NASCAR Cup race

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 road-course 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.