From dirt country to wine country: Kaylee Bryson is ready for her first ARCA Menards Series West start at Sonoma Raceway

Growing up, Kaylee Bryson assumed her career would be primarily confined to dirt tracks across the United States.

An odyssey that has taken the 24-year-old through Toyota Racing Development and the Trans Am Championship now leads her to the ARCA Menards Series West at Sonoma Raceway. Bryson is set to pilot the No. 17 LSI Logical Logistics LLC/MMI Services Chevrolet for Cook Racing Technologies in her series debut Friday evening.

It has taken Bryson plenty of time to amass all the resources necessary just to reach the ARCA Menards Series platform. She is maintaining high aspirations toward her future in motorsports and knows a strong outing with Bruce Cook’s operation at Sonoma is crucial toward accomplishing her goals.

“I’ve always wanted to give [stock cars] a try,” Bryson said. “I love racing, and I’m passionate about it, so to get this opportunity to come to the big stage and run with a good team in the ARCA Menards Series [West], it’s really exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”

While Bryson technically qualifies as a road-course ringer due to her Trans Am experience, she is more renowned for her success on dirt during her formative years.

Bryson in 2022 became the first woman to advance to the A-Main of the Chili Bowl Nationals, where she settled for a solid 18^th place finish. She continued blazing a trail by qualifying for the Chili Bowl A-Main again the following year before making more history as the first female driver to win a nationally sanctioned USAC event in 2024.

A lot had already changed for Bryson when she claimed that checkered flag. Bryson departed Toyota Racing Development after her second successful Chili Bowl appearance and was beginning to acclimate herself to Trans Am — her first direct exposure to road-course racing.

It did not take long for Bryson to find a comfort zone and develop a love for road racing. She earned the SGT championship in her first Trans Am season by tallying three class victories. She continues to race in the series on a part-time basis today, now in the XGT division.

Trans Am offered Bryson the chance to refine her road-course skills at historic tracks like Sebring International Raceway, Road America and others alongside seasoned competitors. Bryson hopes to showcase her burgeoning confidence on road courses when she arrives at Sonoma this weekend.

“The biggest thing that helped me was getting laps,” Bryson said. “Once I got up to speed, it was pretty simple. With racing and driving a car, it’s like riding a bike. You pick up on it pretty quick. I knew I wanted to try a road course track [in the ARCA Menards Series West] because I was a little more familiar with it.”

Sonoma presents its own unique set of obstacles for Bryson, who has never turned a competitive lap around the 1.99-mile course. Bryson is utilizing iRacing to ascertain how to navigate Sonoma’s elevation changes and technical corners, but she remains unsure of what to expect from the track in a real-life scenario.

One advantage playing into Bryson’s favor ahead of the General Tire 200 is the expertise Cook Racing Technologies possesses on how to excel at Sonoma. Cook Racing Technologies co-owner Steve McGowan visited Sonoma’s Victory Lane back in 2015 with David Mayhew, who made the race-winning pass on Dalton Sargeant during an overtime restart.

Bryson knows she has competitive equipment for Sonoma but also understands there will be a learning curve throughout the weekend. No stranger to being versatile as a competitor, Bryson intends to take a methodical approach to her West Series debut so she can bring Cook’s car back home in one piece.

“Obviously making all the laps is the top goal for sure,” Bryson said. “I’ve never been in this car, and I’ve never been [to Sonoma], but I have to keep in mind that I’ve raced a lot of different cars throughout my career. I’m trying to figure things out as quick as I can, so the goal is to get up to speed as fast as possible and go racing from there.”

Friday is another step in the process of building what Bryson believes will be a sustainable future in motorsports. Competing at NASCAR’s top levels remains a goal for Bryson, so she sees plenty of benefits to familiarizing herself with a track like Sonoma that has been on the Cup Series schedule for more than three decades.

While excited about her future, Bryson is keeping her focus centered on the race in front of her. Every day of work and diligence for Bryson culminated into the chance to showcase her talent in the West Series at Sonoma, an opportunity she intends to capitalize on when the green flag waves for the General Tire 200.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day since I was a kid,” Bryson said. “It’s really cool and special, but I never would have been able to do it by myself. I’ve got a lot of awesome people around me, really cool teams and sponsors that support me.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without all of them.”