Sonoma Post Practice Driver Ratings

by M Roberts

After both practices were run Saturday at Infineon Raceway in preparation for Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350, there are several drivers heading the list that don’t get a lot of print time for being considered a contender to win. In a normal week, the discussions are all about Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Carl Edwards and how fast they are in practice.

This week we get to analyze the times of Robby Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Ron Fellows, and A.J. Allmendinger because despite having lesser cars without the financial backing of the mega teams, they themselves are the equalizer. The 10 turn 1.99 mile road course is a welcome site for a few, while some of the traditional NASCAR oval drivers hope to just finish and leave.

For the two sessions, many teams were attempting differing strategies during different segments. Some teams were using older tires in an attempt to simulate longer runs, which made their times lower on the leader board.

Others were attempting fuel conservation strategies by not running so hard to see the difference in times and fuel used. Theoretically, the cars should have to pit every 33 laps, but some of the crews are talking like they can get close to 40 laps on one run which, if were true, would mean that a team could get by with only two pit stops in the 110 lap race. It always looks good on paper early on before the race as a game plan, but never seems to happen.

The ratings below are based on both of Saturday’s practice sessions with an emphasis on average times, mixed in with some of their past road racing history, along with a small pinch of where they start on the track because being up front is so critical.

1) Robby Gordon had the fifth fastest lap in the early session and then the third fastest in the final session. In the final session, Gordon had the fastest average times with 13 laps run which shows that he ’s maintaining high speeds for a longer duration than most and will help him mow down the 21 drivers ahead of him to begin the race.

I loved his confidence before the race regarding his brand new chassis. He’s been talking about it for two weeks since his Road Atlanta test session. The only fault with Gordon has been his parts, which seem to fail him just about every year on the roads since leaving RCR.

2) Ron Fellows has to start from the 29th position, but after some major changes in their set up Friday, they came out strong in both sessions. He laid down the second quickest lap during happy hour, but was also second fastest in average times for both sessions combined. He’s got NASCAR wins in the Nationwide and Truck Series, but hasn’t been able claim a Cup win yet.

3) Juan Pablo Montoya will start from the 17th position and looks to have the best car among all the well funded teams running this week. He was second quickest in the early session and fourth in happy hour with good average times in all. His only Cup win is at Sonoma during his first season and is sitting pretty good to end the drought this week.

4) A.J. Allmendinger has got things figured out after two great practice sessions Saturday. He had a strong upward progression in both practices beginning with seventh fastest early and then reeling out the fastest lap just as happy hour ended. He likely came in to get tires just as the session ended, but after running a total of 17 laps in that session, Allmendinger should be very good Sunday.

5) Ryan Newman may be one of the drivers that can get to the front quickly and maintain a solid position throughout the race. He’ll only have two rows of cars in front of him when the green flag drops and his final practice session was very encouraging for a driver that has good success on the road courses. He had the sixth fastest lap and average time in that session.

Best of the Rest

Tony Stewart didn’t practice well but it might be more about trying some different things with the tires and fuel mileage than what his car can actually do. Before qualifying Friday, Stewart had awful times and then went out and busted out the fourth fastest lap for qualifying. Starting up front will be huge for Stewart early.

Jeff Gordon has never looked worse in any road course practice session as he did Saturday. He stated that the team didn’t treat these races with the same emphasis as the other because there are only two roads, but that has been the case every year. They were one of the teams that tried lots of different strategies during both practices, but being 30th and 20th quickest in the final two sessions are not the Gordon times I have seen from him ever at a place that is considered his home track. I don’t believe the times, so I still consider him a contender.

Kyle Busch swept the roads last year and won at Mexico City in the Nationwide series. Other than running a strong qualifying lap that will start up front, he hasn’t done anything in practice to make me think he’ll hold the lead for very long despite it being hard to pass. Busch also had to change his transmission prior to happy hour with results that weren’t successful. However, I also didn’t think he could win at Sonoma or Watkins Glen last year.

Jamie McMurray has had very good runs at Sonoma and practiced well.
Last years pole sitter, Kasey Kahne, also had a strong practice session.
Clint Bowyer finished fourth at Sonoma last season and ran two great session coming in second and seventh.
Marcos Ambrose was fastest in the first practice but blew an engine and will be going to the back of the field. He came out to run only one lap in happy hour, but it wasn’t very fast.

In all, there aren’t many drivers that have joined the road racing winner fraternity. There are currently only seven active drivers that have won a road race at both tracks combined. This week has a great possibility of having someone join the ranks just because Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch don’t look to be as stout coming in as they have been in the past when they won.

That leaves us with Montoya and Robby Gordon as the top two candidates of past road course winners to win this week. While I’d love to see Ron Fellows finally break through, I think it’s Montoya’s race to lose based on all the variables.

Sonoma Preview: Toyota / Save Mart 350

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

Ever since the NASCAR circuit rolled out of Las Vegas in early March with all of it’s gigantic corporate hotels and spas, the NASCAR teams have missed that type of luxurious amenity.

Of course Vegas isn’t the only place that knows how to pamper a guest, but because of Vegas’ nature and with so many stars roaming, folks aren’t too star struck by a driver which makes being away from the track during race week more enjoyable than most for them. They can blend in like no where else on tour.

While the kids and Dads love the energy of Vegas and all the shows, the wives of the drivers always have the middle of June starred on their calendars, because that is usually when the NASCAR tour cruises into Sonoma Valley, California, right in the middle of America’s best wine region.

Other than sampling the best wines before the rest of the wine world gets to at the thousands of Vineyards throughout the region, the Sonoma Valley has also made itself known as one of the best places to pamper your spouse. Between all the world class spa’s with all the calmness and serenity that an agriculturally rich community exudes, one can feel taken away in the same instance like the old Calgon commercials.

It’s got the aristocratic feel of a Beverly Hills without the hustling, bustling snobs, traffic and black Mercedes everywhere. There is no place like it!

The race weekend also stamps a festive occasion at the raceway, where the 1.99 mile, ten turn road course turns NASCAR into something like a Formula One scene in Europe. Instead of beer stands everywhere like at a traditional oval, there is a mix of wine, fresh fruits, cheese and crackers. It really is quite a different scene and a welcomed change.

For most pure racing enthusiasts, the road course events tend to be their favorites because it brings an international flair to the American stock car series which normally just makes left turns all day.

The road course races are the truest test of a drivers individual skills.Of course a fast engine and great set up helps, but it is the drivers show. He is the one responsible for hitting that perfect line in and out of each turn at maximum speed. One little slip up along the ten differing turns and varying elevation changes can be more costly than any error made at any other track.

With everything resting on the driver, it’s easy to see why there is such a small fraternity within NASCAR that actually do well year after year. It’s also a reason we see several ringers, or hired guns take over existing cars for the two road course races. Drivers who normally participate on roads in different racing series always show up for these events because their skills are superior to most in NASCAR on the roads.

The favorite to win this week is Las Vegan Kyle Busch based simply on his road course runs last season at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. He also won at Mexico City in the Nationwide series race there giving him an unheard of total of three wins on the roads in NASCAR’s major series. Through all of his success at the Bull Ring in Las Vegas, who would have known that he was such an accomplished karting racer too. It turns out that his initial beginning into racing at a very young age was in the karts weaving in and out of any course he could find, including one made at his house.

The short list of drivers after Busch to contend for the win this week is Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, and Juan Pablo Montoya. It’s no surprise that with Busch, they are the only drivers to have won at Sonoma in the last 11 years.

If you add Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick to the mix, the seven of them are the only active drivers to have won a road race at Sonoma and Watkins Glen combined. That is a very short list of winners for the last 16 years of racing in any series.

Mark Martin just got his third win of the season last week at Michigan and could be poised once again to contend for a road course win, which would be his first since 1997. He has a total of four road wins that include three straight at Watkins Glen BJG, which means before Jeff Gordon.

The combination of Roush adding more cars to his operation and the emergence of Jeff Gordon on the road courses made it tough for Martin to win again. Gordon would go on to win nine times between the two courses.

It wasn’t until Tony Stewart emerged that Gordon had any real competition, but at the same time, much like Gordon did to Martin, Stewart kind of took over the role as driver to beat on the roads. Between the two tracks, Stewart has compiled six wins.

Robby Gordon is kind of like the black sheep of NASCAR. He’s always been brash, doesn’t care about what the other drivers think, and walks with a swagger of knowing that he might just be the most complete driver of them all. This guy races everything, and does it well from Rally Races, Off Road events such as the Baja 500 he just won, and even Indy cars.

The series he has the least success in is NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, however, the road courses are his equalizer. He performs at a very high level with cars that are well below the quality of all the other active drivers who have won on a road course.

I was always on the fringe about Gordon and his brashness, at least until this season when NASCAR visited Las Vegas. A couple fans asked Robby to sign a NASCAR poster for them so they could send to it to a soldier they knew in Iraq.

Gordon not only signed it, he took the poster into the garage and had every driver sign it.Although it has nothing to do with his racing, it has everything to do about his character and who he is.

I am now a Robby Gordon fan and will be rooting for him this week in what will be his best opportunity to win a Cup race since leaving Richard Childress.When asked about his chances at Sonoma this week, Gordon was pretty confident.

"I'm looking forward to Sonoma…but the double-file restarts won't make any difference," Gordon says. "The leader (who gets to chose inside or outside) will take the inside every time and force the outside guy out.

"We've been testing for Sonoma for two months now, and the last time we were this well prepared for Sonoma we won it. So we could do it again."

Go Gettum’ Robby!

Top 5 Finish prediction:
1) #7 Robby Gordon (15/1)
2) #42 Juan Pablo Montoya (10/1)
3) #14 Tony Stewart (6/1)
4) #18 Kyle Busch (4/1)
5) #24 Jeff Gordon (7/1)