Kurt Busch knows Sonoma Raceway well

For 2004 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series champion Kurt Busch, the vintage feeling of Wine Country has nothing to the with fine wines available in the surrounding foothills, valleys and towns.

It’s where Busch was first noticed by his first NASCAR team owner, Jack Roush, at a NASCAR Southwest Series event that he won at Sonoma Raceway in 1999 en route to winning the series title that season.

“You have your certain moments that help you make it to the big time, and winning that race on the Saturday before the big cup race in 1999 helped, I think, put me on the map,” he said.

And the map is where’s he raced full time since 2001, winning 29 Cup races, the 2017 Daytona 500 and the Cup title in 2004.

It’s safe to say Jack Roush recognized the potential he was seeing on the course that day.

Although the series has changed a lot since he first debuted on the senior circuit in 2000, one thing that has always remained constant is an annual visit to the West Coast to visit the 10-turn technical road course in the Sonoma hills. It’s a place Busch has won at in the Cup series once (2011) and recorded seven top fives.

He enters this weekend seventh in the points standings, 171 points behind his brother and points leader Kyle Busch, with three top fives eight top 10s and two pole awards, sitting in the front row of the series’ previous race at Michigan.

“We haven’t won yet, but we’ve been a good contender each week,” Busch said. “It’s just a matter of finding that right combo with pit strategy, having solid pit stops, and then I have to do my job to gain spots on restarts. We just haven’t had that perfect race to pull off the win yet, but I know it’s right around the corner when you have all the speed in the car.”

Busch has also ventured outside of his full-time NASCAR ride to test out the waters in other motorsports. Busch pulled double duty in 2014 by racing in the Indianapolis 500 and then flying to Charlotte to race in the Coca-Cola 600. He finished sixth at Indy but lost a motor in Charlotte midway through the race.

Prior to this week’s race, Busch took NASCAR’s Father’s Day weekend break to fly to Catalonia, Spain, for a sponsor appearance at the MotoGP Catalunya race, where he rode on a two-seater bike at full speed around the racetrack.

“I’ve never been that fast on two wheels ever, even when I am the rider/driver,” Busch said. “I hung on as tight as I could. They told me in the braking zones its like doing a push-up with three times your body weight because of the three Gs (G-forces) going into the corner. And literally, it was like doing a push-up with 400 pounds on your shoulders.

“The balance, the G-force, the grip level and of the course the acceleration at that much horsepower and that amount of weight, the power-to-weight ratio is insane. I had respect for the riders - I have that much more now.”

Busch contrasted the challenge of racing on a two-seat bike with a four-wheel vehicle by pointing out that bike races are generally much shorter than a race on the NASCAR circuits.

Mind you, Busch only did one lap around the circuit on the bike, but the toll it can take on the body clearly won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

“We’re more built for the marathon pace of being in the car for 3½ hours and putting together laps of routine, and the bikes, their races are 25 laps long but it’s the most intense effort that you can give in that short a time. It’s ramped up and you have to be on your game 1,000 percent,” he said.

The eye-opening experience for Busch might help him prepare for the NASCAR circuit’s unique road course race, even if he hasn’t needed help on the ?10-turn, 1.99-mile Sonoma course during his career.

“Road courses are a fundamental thing in racing that if you learn them at an early age, it’ll help you everywhere you go in life,” Busch said.

Nearly 20 years ago, the Sonoma Raceway was front and center for Busch in his career. Busch recalled that the raceway had been reconfigured prior to the 1999 race and many teams and owners were watching the Southwest Series race to observe any noticeable changes. And when he won, the doors started opening for the future.

“My name made it on the map and teams were calling,” he said.

A map with a foundation set in the hills of Sonoma County.