On Sunday and throughout the weekend we will hear about road course ringers. Those drivers who specialty is road courses and are given an opportunity to run in the Sprint Cup series at least twice a year when they come to a road course.
This weekend they are at Watkins Glen International for the final road course race of the season.
For two drivers who are Sprint Cup regulars one is looking to get back to the road course success he had early on in his career and the other needs a win this season with his Chase chances on the line.
Tony Stewart hasn’t had a bad season; many drivers would love to have a season like Stewart has had.
His two top fives and eight top 10’s are enough to have him sitting 10th in the standings. That’s enough for at least right now to make the Chase.
Still Stewart isn’t having a “Tony Stewart” type season. Usually we see him heat up as June rolls around and go on to collect a couple wins.
This season his inconsistencies have led the real possibility that he could miss the Chase.
This weekend represents one of his best chances at collecting his first win of the season at Watkins Glen.
He has five wins, seven top five’s, 10 top 10 finishes, an average finish of 5.4 and leads the series with the highest driver rating at any track of 129.6.
Stewart has owned WGI the last couple seasons having his worse finish was 26th in 2001 but since 2005 he hasn’t finished worse than seventh.
In fact, he has followed up each of his “worst” finishes with wins and won two in a row in 2004 and 2005.
In 2010 it was the first time since 2005 that he didn’t end up leading a lap at WGI. Still, Stewart is your odds on favorite to win on Sunday given his past success.
With the Chase shaping up as it is winning has never been more important and Stewart needs to find victory lane somehow and Sunday could be it.
Unlike Stewart, Jeff Gordon has two wins this season and is sitting seventh in the points. Gordon is arguably the hottest driver on the track since Kansas. He hasn’t finished worse than 17th since Michigan in June.
The team has found ways to tough out solid finishes even if the car wasn’t good enough to battle for the win.
Still Gordon hasn’t won on a road course since 2007 and hasn’t won at WGI since 2001-his last championship.
Gordon has admitted that the new car has definitely affected him on the road courses.
He has four wins at WGI along with six top fives and nine top 10’s. His success though at WGI came prior to 2001.
In 2009, Gordon finished 37th his worse finish at WGI after a horrific crash that saw him spin head on into a guard rail.
If Gordon can win this weekend it will be his third win of the season and puts him in a solid position in terms of the Chase.
Gordon will be looking to qualify up front and lead laps as he hasn’t led any laps at WGI since 2007. His last pole came in 2007 since then he has started only once in the top 10.
Between Stewart and Gordon they have 16 combined road course wins- Gordon has nine and leads all active drivers.
While drivers like Boris Said and Ron Fellows have are considered experts on the road courses Stewart and Gordon’s 29 top fives and 42 top 10 finishes prove these two could be the drivers to beat.
Stewart needs to win a race to solidify his spot in the Chase. His position in the Chase is far more uncertain than that of Gordon.
A bad race on Sunday for Stewart could be a hole he won’t have time to climb out of.
Another win for Gordon could send yet another statement to his competition that he and his team are ready to fight for the title.
Road course ringers they are not but one of them could take back the title “king of the road course” on Sunday.
Written by:
