Rivalries Sparked At Infineon

Tight confines lead to tight racing at Infineon.

But it also leads to hot tempers. To pass at Infineon, drivers often have to resort to a little fender bending. Infineon is famous for the nudge, then the pass.

But sometimes a tap gets rough and drivers get angry.

Jeff Gordon made few enemies for his aggressive style last year. The list included Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch.

Expect similar feistiness this time around.

A Road Course Tradition: The Ringers

A race at a road course always brings some new blood into the series. They are known as the “road course ringers.”

Experts at the style, these drivers – namely Boris Said, P.J. Jones – often contend for wins at both Infineon and Watkins Glen.

But a victory rarely happens. The last time a “road course ringer” won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race was 1973 when Mark Donohue won at Riverside International Raceway.

There are five notable “road course ringers” on this year’s preliminary entry list – Tony Ave, Andy Pilgrim, Brian Simo, Said and Jones.

Top 10 Battle Tightens Up

Denny Hamlin’s first win of 2011 at Michigan caused a standings shakeup – and a virtual dead heat around the all-important top-10 spot.

Those in the top 10 after Richmond earn Chase berths, but also get three bonus points for each win during the 26-race regular season.

Hamlin, with the victory, launched three spots to ninth. Tony Stewart, despite a solid seventh-place finish at Michigan, dropped two spots to 11th.

But those standings positions are separated by a microscopic margin.

Just two points separate eighth-place Ryan Newman and 11th-place Stewart.

FYI WIRZ: NASCAR’s top 5 talk race 16 at Sonoma road course

This week the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) shifts gears from predominate ovals to road course racing for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on the 1.99-mile road course at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

Viewers can catch the twisting action at 3 p.m. Sunday on TNT as powerful stock cars maneuver left and right turns through 10 turns meant for sleek sports cars.

Drivers with road course experience like Boris Said and Marcos Ambrose have an advantage over less knowledgeable Sprint Cup drivers. Many drivers will attempt to observe both during practice runs. Ambrose admits to limiting his better moves until race time.

Ambrose explained racing a stock car on a road course during a recent NASCAR teleconference.

“To drive a big, heavy stock car around a road course is one of the hardest things you could ever do as a race car driver,” Ambrose said. “I’ve driven sports cars, fast, high-powered, open-wheel cars. I’ve driven them around the world on all types of racetracks, but getting a stock car around Sonoma for the total length of the race watt tires going away and the brakes going away and the drivers swarming over you like a bunch of bees on the rear bumper trying to get past you; it’s really challenging.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum at Racetake.com

“It’s a tough thing to do and that’s why you see a lot of guys that come from road race
backgrounds do okay when they turn up on Watkins again and Sonoma.”

The top five drivers in Sprint Cup points, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jimmie Johnson shared comments about Infineon at Sonoma.

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of motorsports topics by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes derived from motorsports media press releases.

Carl Edwards will compete in two races, the Sprint Cup race in Sonoma and Nationwide Series race on Road America in Elkhart, Wisconsin.

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford)

“The most demanding weekend of the year is this one,” Edwards said. “We compete on two tough road courses that are thousands of miles apart. Billy Johnson will practice and set up the Fastenal Mustang in Wisconsin Friday while I practice and qualify the Ortho Fusion in California, then we will travel to Road America to race Saturday, then back to Infineon for Sunday’s race. I feel that Saturday’s race will help me prepare for Sunday and will make up for the lost practice in the Sprint Cup car. There’s a lot of pride in winning on a road course, and a win at either event would be huge.”

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

“The Infineon course is tough because it’s narrow and very technical,” Harvick said. “Track position is probably the biggest key. You have to be technically and mentally sound and do everything right in order to stay on the race track and try to put yourself in position at the end of the race. It’s a challenging course, but very narrow.

“Everybody has prepared for it as long as I’ve been around. I know if you don’t prepare for it right you’re not going to be competitive and I think everybody knows that. I think the guys that weren’t as good at it in the first few years have gotten better at it because they’ve spent more time preparing for it.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet)

“We ran really good there last year and finished 11th. I like Sonoma but it’s tough. Steve (Letarte) and Jeff (Gordon), there is a lot of talent there on road courses to lean on. I’m pretty confident with the setup we’ve got for this weekend. I’ve got some of the best road course racers as teammates, so we should be pretty good.”

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota)

“The road courses are fun. For me, I enjoy it,” Busch said. “It’s pretty cool to go out there and race the road courses. You get to turn right, turn left and everything, so it’s fun. Sonoma is more technical just because there are more turns and it’s a little bit slower. You have to concentrate on getting off the corner a little bit and have good forward bite. Sonoma, in our M&M’s Pretzel Toyota, is going to be fun, going out there and seeing what these cars have this year. It will be a fun race, though. I always look forward to going up there and challenging the road course.”

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet)

“The Grand Am races I have competed in and looking at the data from the other drivers who have been Mark Goossens when I drove for Riley – Butch Leitzinger if you go all the way back when I first drove a DP car. Elliott Forbes-Robinson and then most currently with John Fogarty and Alex Guerny,” Johnson said. “In that environment you can (learn) and with the other stuff it’s really just been laps and seat time. I’ve been to the Bondurant school to learn – we’ve tested like crazy and I’ve run some Nationwide races just all trying to get reps and trying to let me search around and see what I need to do.”

Four drivers, especially, must have this one circled.

Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose – four drivers outside the top 10 – have Wild Card hopes, much of which depend firmly in a successful trip to Infineon Raceway.

After race No. 26 at Richmond International Raceway, the top-10 drivers earn berths into the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Spots 11 and 12 go to those drivers outside the top 10 with the most wins, provided they are in the top 20 in points.

With two wins this season, Gordon would own the No. 1 Wild Card spot if the Chase began today. The road-course king, who owns an all-time series high nine road course victories, has five wins at Infineon – but none since 2006. He has finished in the top 10 in each of the last five Infineon races.

Stewart, despite a seventh-place finish at Michigan, fell out of the top 10. Don’t expect him to stay there for long – he has two Infineon wins, and top 10s in the last four races there.

Montoya, likewise a road-course guru, nabbed his first career win at Infineon in his rookie year of 2007. He has finished in the top 10 every year since.

Ambrose, currently seven points outside the top 20, was the tough luck loser at Infineon last year. He held the lead with seven laps remaining, but stalled during a caution period, giving up the top spot. Jimmie Johnson went on to grab his first road-course win; Ambrose finished sixth. Ambrose has two top 10s in his last two Infineon races, including a third in 2009.

The four drivers also hold the top four spots in the NASCAR pre-race Loop Data Driver Ratings: Tony Stewart leads the series with a 110.4 followed by Juan Pablo Montoya (108.6), Marcos Ambrose (108.4) and Jeff Gordon (100.2).