This Sunday the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be making right turns as well as left turns when it returns to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. It only happens twice a year, but the road course races are almost always exiciting.
There are drivers who are consistently good on the road courses. So here are my drivers to watch during Sunday's race:
Jeff Gordon: Gordon is the all-time NASCAR wins leader on road courses with nine wins, and five of those wins coming at Infineon. He has an average finish of 9.1.
Tony Stewart: Stewart is right behind Gordon on NASCAR's all-time wins list on road courses. He has seven career road course victories with two of them coming at Infineon.
Juan Pablo Montoya: JPM has turned into a pretty decent NASCAR driver at all disciplines, but still excels on the road courses. His two career wins were both at a road course, and his first win came at Infineon. He hasn't had a strong season so far, but expect him to be up front on Sunday.
Marcos Ambrose: Ambrose lost last year's race at Infineon in heart-breaking fashion. He was conserving fuel while running in the lead late in the race, by shutting off his engine and then refiring it while under caution. At one point he couldn't get the engine refired and lost about nine positions. He has consistently run near the lead on the road courses since he came to NASCAR but has yet to finish one of with a win.
Robby Gordon: Gordon is another driver who always runs strong at the road course events, but hasn't been able to finish the races well. He swept the road course events in 2003, but hasn't won since. However, he finished second in last year's race at Infineon.
Joe Gibbs Racing Penalized: All three Joe Gibbs Racing teams were penalized for bring unapproved oil pans to Michigan International Speedway last week. NASCAR had the teams remove the oil pans before the first practice session began last Friday. Mike Ford, Greg Zipadelli, and Dave Rogers were all fined $50,000 and placed on probation through December 31st. In addition, the car chiefs for all three teams were also placed on probation. No points were taken away from any of the three teams.
Red Bull Racing Leaving? Red Bull Racing is apparently leaving NASCAR at the end of this season according to Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press. Supposedly a team official traveled to Michigan this past weekend to inform NASCAR and industry leaders of their decision to pull out of NASCAR.
Red Bull's initial statement read as such: "Red Bull Racing Team is currently seeking outside investors as we evaluate next steps in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. We are not at liberty to comment on details while negotiations are under way. Red Bull fully supports NASCAR for the remainder of the 2011 season as we fight for victories and a position in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup."
However, team vice president and general manager Jay Frye remains optimistic that the team can find investors to keep Red Bull Racing in NASCAR next season. "We have talked to some people who have great enthusiasm about what we're doing," Frye said on a conference call. "We believe we can put something together rather quickly in 30 to 45 days. But the process has just started. We had a lot of inquires yesterday. The goal is to keep the Red Bull team continuing on the path it's on."
Red Bull currently fields two cars in the Sprint Cup series for Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne. Kahne is on a one year deal for this season, and will be heading to Hendrick Motorsports to replace Mark Martin in the number five car. Brian Vickers will be a free agent at the end of this season. Red Bull Racing also fields a ride for rookie Cole Whitt in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Red Bull also was apparently in talks with free agent driver Clint Bowyer to drive the number four car before the news of Red Bull pulling out of NASCAR broke.
Dover International Speedway Back To Traditional June Race Weekend For 2012: As has been reported today, Dover International Speedway will have its spring race weekend moved back the first weekend of June. For the last two seasons the spring race has been in mid-May. It is still unclear what race will take it's place in mid-May since the schedule has not been released yet. The only dates to be confirmed are Dover in June, and the Daytona 500 will be a week later than usual.
Written by:
