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Sprint Cup
CUP: Ringers Ready For Road Course
Boris Said is back for another stab at the Sonoma road course...
Popular road-course specialist Boris Said returns to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action this weekend at Infineon. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series turning right as well as left for the first time this season, there will be a whole host of new faces this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Northern California.
As is the custom whenever NASCAR races on a road course, some teams have hired road-racing specialists just to compete in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350K at the 10-turn, 1.99-mile track.
To date, no road racer has ever come to NASCAR and won a race at Infineon or Watkins Glen International, the other road course in the series. Ron Fellows has come closest, winning road course races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series and finishing second in a Cup road race. Surprisingly, perhaps, Fellows is not competing in Sonoma.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of road-race ringers entered this weekend. Among them are:
• P.J. Jones, No. 07 Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota — The son of legendary racer Parnelli Jones, P.J. will be attempting to qualify for his seventh Cup race at Sonoma. Jones has a long resume in NASCAR, dating back to 1993 when he drove for Melling Racing. His best career NASCAR finish was a fourth at Watkins Glen in 2002. He also has a very diverse resume in sports cars and open-wheel racing.
• Jan Magnussen, No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet — The Dutch driver was once regarded as a future Formula 1 superstar, although his career in single-seaters never quite reached those lofty expectations. In recent years, the Dutchman has enjoyed considerable success racing sports cars in the American Le Mans Series.
• Boris Said, No. 26 Latitude 43 Motorsports Ford — The extremely popular Californian has a huge cult following with his fans known as “Said Heads.” In 10 previous Sonoma starts, said has four top-five finishes, with his best results being sixth-place finishes in 2003 and ’04.
• Brian Simo, No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet — Another California racer, Simo has four starts at Sonoma dating back to 2000. His best finish came in 2005, when he was 10th in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
• Mattias Ekstrom, No. 83 Red Bull Racing Toyota — The most intriguing of the road-course ringers might be Ekstrom, a two-time champion in the German DTM stock-car series. Ekstrom, who is guaranteed to make the race because his car is in the top 35 in owner points, will be the first Swedish driver to ever compete in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
As is the custom whenever NASCAR races on a road course, some teams have hired road-racing specialists just to compete in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350K at the 10-turn, 1.99-mile track.
To date, no road racer has ever come to NASCAR and won a race at Infineon or Watkins Glen International, the other road course in the series. Ron Fellows has come closest, winning road course races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series and finishing second in a Cup road race. Surprisingly, perhaps, Fellows is not competing in Sonoma.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of road-race ringers entered this weekend. Among them are:
• P.J. Jones, No. 07 Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota — The son of legendary racer Parnelli Jones, P.J. will be attempting to qualify for his seventh Cup race at Sonoma. Jones has a long resume in NASCAR, dating back to 1993 when he drove for Melling Racing. His best career NASCAR finish was a fourth at Watkins Glen in 2002. He also has a very diverse resume in sports cars and open-wheel racing.
• Jan Magnussen, No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet — The Dutch driver was once regarded as a future Formula 1 superstar, although his career in single-seaters never quite reached those lofty expectations. In recent years, the Dutchman has enjoyed considerable success racing sports cars in the American Le Mans Series.
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• Boris Said, No. 26 Latitude 43 Motorsports Ford — The extremely popular Californian has a huge cult following with his fans known as “Said Heads.” In 10 previous Sonoma starts, said has four top-five finishes, with his best results being sixth-place finishes in 2003 and ’04.
• Brian Simo, No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet — Another California racer, Simo has four starts at Sonoma dating back to 2000. His best finish came in 2005, when he was 10th in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
• Mattias Ekstrom, No. 83 Red Bull Racing Toyota — The most intriguing of the road-course ringers might be Ekstrom, a two-time champion in the German DTM stock-car series. Ekstrom, who is guaranteed to make the race because his car is in the top 35 in owner points, will be the first Swedish driver to ever compete in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
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