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CUP: Toyota/Save Mart 350 Preview
Written by: Tom Jensen   
06/20/2007
Sonoma, Calif.
 
Robby Gordon had the speed, but not the fuel mileage. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos


As NASCAR Nextel Cup road races always are, this Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway will be something of a wild card – a crazy and unpredictable mix of new drivers, pit stops in the opposite direction and turns that go both ways instead of just left.

Add in the fact that the Car of Tomorrow will be racing on a road course for the first time and you have myriad possibilities for the seemingly impossible, or at least improbable, to happen on Sunday. Several of the favorites for the race are drivers who've never won on the Nextel Cup level before and others are guys who are far down in points. In other words, it shouldn't just be the usual suspects up fron this week. All things considered, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 ought to be an intriguing race and a welcome relief from the seemingly endless parade of superspeedways this time of year.

Now that Jeff Gordon's wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, has given birth to the couple's first child – and congrats to the family on the arrival of Ella Sofia – we know now Gordon will race on Sunday, something that was in doubt just a few days ago. So we will begin the longer-than-usual list of Infineon hopefuls with the proud new papa.

JEFF GORDON Prior to the season, the conventional wisdom was that remarriage and fatherhood would cause Gordon to lose his edge, which in hindsight seems about as dumb a notion as Brittany Spears shaving her head. Far from losing his edge, Gordon is off to the best start of his entire career, including the storied 1998 season, when he won 13 races and his third championship in four years.

He's also the best road racer in NASCAR, bar none. Gordon has won five races at Infineon, a track where no other driver has won more than twice. Gordon is the defending winner here and has won two of the last three Infineon races. On Sunday, he'll be looking to win the first race for his new daughter, so you know he'll have the bit between his teeth when he gets in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Stewart may not have turned right a lot on his way up the racing ladder, but he's mastered the art pretty well in Cup. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos

TONY STEWART If Jeff Gordon is the best road racer in NASCAR – and he is – Tony Stewart is not far behind. Stewart has won twice at Infineon and three times at Watkins Glen, which makes him second to Gordon among all-time Nextel Cup road course victors.

Stewart and Gordon have two other critical advantages in common: Of the drivers who can win on Sunday, Stewart and Gordon are the only ones who drive for true championship-caliber teams. That means they are less likely to make the kinds of mistakes on the track or in the pits that could cost the race. And Joe Gibbs Racing, like Hendrick Motorsports has done a superb job with the COT
so far. Add those factors all up, and Gordon and Stewart are your prohibitive favorites. Over the past six seasons, the two multiple series champions have combined to win eight of 12 Nextel Cup road races. I see no reason for that to change anytime soon.

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Without question, the biggest threat to the Gordon/Stewart road-course domination comes from former Formula 1 star and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, who shredded the field earlier this season to win the Mexico City NASCAR Busch Series road race.

JPM's credentials as a road racer are impeccable. Obviously, all Formula 1 races are run on road courses of one sort or another, either purpose-built road courses or converted urban street courses. Watching Montoya mix it up with Gordon and Stewart at Infineon ought to be great fun. Montoya's Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team isn't the equal of Hendrick or Gibbs, but the Colombian might make up the difference with his combination of car control and all-out aggression.

BORIS SAID Said, a California native and former Trans Am road racing series champion, always seems to run well at Infineon, where he earned the pole in 2003. He also has a career-best Nextel Cup finish of third on a road course, at Watkins Glen. Although he gets technology help from Roush Fenway Racing, the biggest disadvantage for Said might be that he's never raced the COT before.

RON FELLOWS Fellows, who will be subbing for Tony Raines in the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Chevrolet, has won NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series road races before and twice was runner-up in Cup races at Watkins Glen. He will be driving the car that finished third in this race with Terry Labonte at the wheel, so he has to be taken seriously.

RICKY RUDD Until Jeff Gordon arrived on the scene, Rudd was rightly regarded as the best road racer in NASCAR, having won a total of six Nextel Cup road races – two each at Infineon, Watkins Glen and the long-defunct Riverside road course in Southern California. Rudd said that the so-far woeful Robert Yates Racing road course program benefited greatly from the recent test at Virginia International Raceway.

ROBBY GORDON The former open-wheel and current off-road racer loves road courses. In 2003, he swept the road course races on the Nextel Cup calendar. Unfortunately, like RYR, his COT program hasn't been especially strong so far this year.

TERRY LABONTE Labonte, who will sub for Michael Waltrip in the No. 55 Toyota Camry, is unquestionably a long shot. But he enjoys road racing and he finished third here last year, so anything is possible.