The Sprint Cup series visit to Infineon Raceway in California’s wine country provides one the season’s two visits to a road course, but to compare this track to the other road course at Watkins Glen is quite a stretch as the two facilities differ tremendously providing some of the most unique racing for the entire year’s competition.
Jeff Gordon rules this track having five victories since 1998. Tony Stewart is a two time winner, but everybody’s favorite brat, the guitar smashing, smart aleck,Kyle Busch is the defending champ. Of note, Juan Montoya won the race in 2007; Mark Martin and Robby Gordon are the only other active competitors with victories on the road race track. Clearly, this is Jeff Gordon’s track. Besides Tony Stewart, there are three other multiple winners, all with just two victories: Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, and Ernie Irvan.
At Sonoma, not only do drivers have to negotiate right hand turns, but the track also features changes in elevation further influencing the breaking and shifting agility of the driver.
Forty eight drivers will attempt to make the field including some “road racing specialists” or “ringers” who seldom race in oval track events.
This year’s field of “specialists” include:
Brandon Ash, #02, Dodge, Efusjon Energy Club, Kenneth Wood, owner
P.J. Jones, #04, Toyota, Jim Beam/Menards, Robby Gordon, owner
Boris Said, #08, Ford, no sponsor, John Carter, owner
Ron Fellows, #09, Chevy, Miccosukee Resorts and Gaming, James Finch, owner
Max Papis, #13, Toyota, Geico, Bob Germain, owner
Tom Hubert, #27, Toyota, Kirk Shelmerdine Racing
Brian Simo, #36, Toyota, California Outdoor Heritage, Tommy Baldwin, owner
Chris Cook, #37, Chevy, M&J Motorsports, Brad Jenkins, owner
Patrick Carpentier, #55, Toyota, NAPA, Michael Waltrip, owner
The most notable driver opting out of competition is Michael Waltrip giving up his own ride for Patrick Carpentier. James Finch and Tommy Baldwin attempt to qualify for each week’s event. Robby Gordon is adding a second car to his team for this event with P.J. Jones in car #04.
The extent to which these driver changes enhance competition or simply compete to the clutter is debatable. One would hope having more drivers actively trying to make the race would reduce the likelihood of “Start and Park” entries. Consider the frustration of a team that would enter with the intention to compete being frozen out by a race team that just puts in a few laps and calls it quits.
Jimmie Johnson has never won a road race event at the Cup level. Tony Eury Jr. has been assigned to work with Chad Knaus and the #48 team to help Johnson contend in these events.
Given Bruton Smith’s desire to establish a Sprint Cup date for Kentucky Motor Speedway, speculation has arisen that the Infineon date could be moved to early in the season replacing the March Atlanta date since the Atlanta races have struggled to gain attendance. The current date in late June would then become the opening for Kentucky which coincides closely with this year’s Nationwide event at Kentucky just completed this past weekend.
Road racing fans also argue if the Chase format is truly supposed to be a test of champions, a road racing event should be included in the ten race Chase schedule. Moving Watkins Glen to a later date would be difficult as cold weather could become a factor from mid-October onward. That would make Infineon the ideal course for the Chase, but what track could Bruton Smith juggle with is fall allocation on the schedule now that Atlanta has been moved to Labor Day to bail out the horrible attendance in Fontana, California since it replaced Darlington as the Labor Day event.
In the modern age of cookie cutter intermediate tracks added to the circuit in since the mid-90’s, road racing, the three short tracks, Dover and Darlington certainly standout as much more noteworthy events giving fans more unpredictable exciting racing. Right minded race fans would encourage anything that NASCAR can do to add to providing the most exciting competition that makes its top level drivers utilize their talents to the fullest. The counter argument is always which tracks get sacrificed. The France family has too much at stake with its newer entries in Fontana, Kansas, and Chicago to tinker with the formula.
From an angry fan who misses the excitement of “The Rock,” anything NASCAR can do to bring more variety into our living rooms would be greatly appreciated as will this upcoming event at Infineon.
Jeff Gordon rules this track having five victories since 1998. Tony Stewart is a two time winner, but everybody’s favorite brat, the guitar smashing, smart aleck,Kyle Busch is the defending champ. Of note, Juan Montoya won the race in 2007; Mark Martin and Robby Gordon are the only other active competitors with victories on the road race track. Clearly, this is Jeff Gordon’s track. Besides Tony Stewart, there are three other multiple winners, all with just two victories: Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, and Ernie Irvan.
At Sonoma, not only do drivers have to negotiate right hand turns, but the track also features changes in elevation further influencing the breaking and shifting agility of the driver.
Forty eight drivers will attempt to make the field including some “road racing specialists” or “ringers” who seldom race in oval track events.
This year’s field of “specialists” include:
Brandon Ash, #02, Dodge, Efusjon Energy Club, Kenneth Wood, owner
P.J. Jones, #04, Toyota, Jim Beam/Menards, Robby Gordon, owner
Boris Said, #08, Ford, no sponsor, John Carter, owner
Ron Fellows, #09, Chevy, Miccosukee Resorts and Gaming, James Finch, owner
Max Papis, #13, Toyota, Geico, Bob Germain, owner
Tom Hubert, #27, Toyota, Kirk Shelmerdine Racing
Brian Simo, #36, Toyota, California Outdoor Heritage, Tommy Baldwin, owner
Chris Cook, #37, Chevy, M&J Motorsports, Brad Jenkins, owner
Patrick Carpentier, #55, Toyota, NAPA, Michael Waltrip, owner
The most notable driver opting out of competition is Michael Waltrip giving up his own ride for Patrick Carpentier. James Finch and Tommy Baldwin attempt to qualify for each week’s event. Robby Gordon is adding a second car to his team for this event with P.J. Jones in car #04.
The extent to which these driver changes enhance competition or simply compete to the clutter is debatable. One would hope having more drivers actively trying to make the race would reduce the likelihood of “Start and Park” entries. Consider the frustration of a team that would enter with the intention to compete being frozen out by a race team that just puts in a few laps and calls it quits.
Jimmie Johnson has never won a road race event at the Cup level. Tony Eury Jr. has been assigned to work with Chad Knaus and the #48 team to help Johnson contend in these events.
Given Bruton Smith’s desire to establish a Sprint Cup date for Kentucky Motor Speedway, speculation has arisen that the Infineon date could be moved to early in the season replacing the March Atlanta date since the Atlanta races have struggled to gain attendance. The current date in late June would then become the opening for Kentucky which coincides closely with this year’s Nationwide event at Kentucky just completed this past weekend.
Road racing fans also argue if the Chase format is truly supposed to be a test of champions, a road racing event should be included in the ten race Chase schedule. Moving Watkins Glen to a later date would be difficult as cold weather could become a factor from mid-October onward. That would make Infineon the ideal course for the Chase, but what track could Bruton Smith juggle with is fall allocation on the schedule now that Atlanta has been moved to Labor Day to bail out the horrible attendance in Fontana, California since it replaced Darlington as the Labor Day event.
In the modern age of cookie cutter intermediate tracks added to the circuit in since the mid-90’s, road racing, the three short tracks, Dover and Darlington certainly standout as much more noteworthy events giving fans more unpredictable exciting racing. Right minded race fans would encourage anything that NASCAR can do to add to providing the most exciting competition that makes its top level drivers utilize their talents to the fullest. The counter argument is always which tracks get sacrificed. The France family has too much at stake with its newer entries in Fontana, Kansas, and Chicago to tinker with the formula.
From an angry fan who misses the excitement of “The Rock,” anything NASCAR can do to bring more variety into our living rooms would be greatly appreciated as will this upcoming event at Infineon.
1 comment:
If the 02 efusjon car makes the race you should join the club. So you can be part of the team.
www.myefusjon.com/drinkhealthyenergy
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