NASCAR's James Bickford Attends Pre-Race Media Events Leading Up to Sonoma Raceway's Carneros 200

Interstate Plastics sponsored no. 6 James Bickford recently completed a marathon week of media appearances and practices leading up to the June 27th NASCAR K&N West Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway, which shared an event weekend with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota Save Mart 350. The combined events brought nearly 500,000 fans to Sonoma Raceway over the course of the weekend. The 17-year-old Napa native mentioned that he "loves media appearances", which comes as no surprise given his natural poise and eloquence in front of the camera. Take a look below to see where James appeared prior to the June 27th Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway.



Tuesday, June 25, 2015 – Media Hot Lap Day by Sonoma Raceway
12:30pm – 1:30pm: James attended a Media Hot Lap event presented by Sonoma Raceway. During the Hot Lap, James gave ride-alongs to several members of the Northern California media community while driving a Toyota Camry along Sonoma Raceway's 1.99 mile road course. Media members from the community included Tom Fitzgerald from the San Francisco Chronicle and Bryan May from News 10 Sacramento. About the Hot Lap, James said, "This event in particular was really enjoyable. It was great to meet a lot of new people and get to see so many faces."

Thursday, June 27, 2015 – Toyota Save Mart 350 Luncheon by NASCAR
12:00pm – 2:00pm: James was invited to attend the Toyota Save Mart 350 luncheon, presented by NASCAR and located at McCormick and Kuleto's in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square. He attended as one of three men-of-honor alongside NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers David Ragan and Kyle Larson. The media luncheon featured nearly 30 high-profile media members from across the United States, including Jeff Gluck from USA Today and Bob Pockrass from ESPN.com.

During the event, James was asked one of the most political questions of his career to date:What do you think of NASCAR taking down confederate flags at their races? James replied with 'no comment'. One of James' favorite aspects from the event was the opportunity to spend time with Fox Sports Broadcasting veteran Mike Joy.

Friday, June 26, 2015 – Track Testing and Practice
6:30am: James and Tom arrived to their home track of Sonoma Raceway for a long day of track testing and practices. The Bickford family resides in Napa, California—approximately twenty minutes from Sonoma Raceway.

10:30am – 11:50am: James was P11 after the first practice of the day with a best time of 1:20.3.

2:00pm – 3:00pm: In the final practice of the day, James climbed to P8 with a best lap of 1:19.1. James mentioned that he and his team only used about fifteen minutes of the hour-long practice slot. He said, "We wanted to get a feel for what tires were going to be like. Second practice was great. We were sitting 8th at that point but I still felt really good about it."

4:00pm – 4:45pm: James attended a mandatory NASCAR autograph session, where he signed autographs and interactedwith fans.

7:00pm: James and his dad attended a barbeque at the home of Darrell and Sondra Dudley for a racing reunionfeaturing many long-time racers from Vallejo Speedway. James left the event early to spend the evening with his girlfriend of one month, Lindsay. He came home much later than Dad, Tom, would've liked, which led to a very early morning in the Bickford house!