Walk through the front doors of Adobe Road Winery on South McDowell Boulevard in Petaluma, past the Porsches and other exotic race cars, turn right and move through the spacious tasting room. That next building outdoors. It’s a NASCAR team headquarters.
While you’ll find the mighty Hendrick Racing Team, Rousch Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing operating out of North Carolina, Novato’s Kevin Buckler, sports car racer, winery owner and now owner of a NASCAR team, is comfortable running his team — The Racer’s Group — next to his winery in Petaluma.
It already has been a whirlwind ride for Buckler, who fields a car every week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series — David Gilliland is his driver — and takes pride in the fact that TRG has qualified for 14 of the 15 races, missing out only on the opening Daytona 500.
Gilliland, from Bakersfield, a road-course veteran who finished second in the Sprint Cup race at Infineon last year, is expected to qualify again this weekend for the Toyota/Save Mart 350…Â Details