The last Sonoma NASCAR race held at the previous road course passage was in 1997 on October 5 at a Truck Series event. There, Joe Ruttman won the race but controversy erupted when Rich Bickle blamed a loss of a top-ten finish on rookie Boris Said. Bickle cut down Said's tire and in reply Said waited for Bickle to come back around and crashed him. NASCAR, after a brief red flag for a massive crash in a wall of tires, disqualified Said and fined him $10,000 for his actions.