Picks/Sonoma/SunAfternoon
#1
06-17-2012, 08:46 PM
Picks/Sonoma/SunAfternoon
Editing Note: I'm going to get some of the basics down tonight (Sunday), but I'm probably going to put most of the team information up tomorrow because I'm not very comfortable with who is good on what tracks. Check the stats first.)
Points, Intro, and Congratulatory Remarks
There are a lot of people to congratulate. First off, congrats to bblackstone for pulling off the Michigan win. He has won both of the 2 mile races this year, which makes him a favorite to win when we go back to Michigan and even going to Indianapolis this year.
And going into our first road course of the year, the defending winner is....
Defending Winner: silverfish33
I remember htat one well... I was 2nd and would have won, yet I had invited him to come pick and run with us and he came out, made picks for his first race, and won the thing....
Congrats to Carl Martin again for holding the overall points lead, but we also must congratulate Leprechaun 93 for taking over the Segment points lead. The Segment is becoming important as we go because there are only three more races, including this one, in this Segment.
Overall:
1) carlm54stl 1596 Leader
2) JuniorCar 1574 -22
3) bblackstone 1555 -41
4) SupplySgt 1530 -66
5) Cowboy6622 1527 -69
6) zJerry 1516 -80
7) Leprechaun93 1515 -81
8) lougreen03 1505 -91
9) montecarlo3831 1486 -110
10) 02 Earnhardt 1485 -111
11) 03JGMonte 1442 -154
12) butch049 1392 -204
13) 77GP 1381 -215
14) silverfish 1302 -294
15) STUMPMI 1262 -336
16) RocknSS04 1142
17) adgm2005 1018
18) SuperSportSteve 928
19) 01 Monte SS 908
20) 06 Mistre SS 428
21) Teacher 306
22) Ricks 2006 SS 213
23) yutzybrian 211
24) Racebound2 83
25) Possum 77
26) 04chevyboy 76
27) Emily666 61
28) SSMeansSuperSexy 60
29) mousehouse 54
Segment 2 Points
1) Leprechuan 664 Leader
2) carlm54stl 646 -18
3) bblackstone 634 -30
4) SupplySgt 626 -38
5) 02 Earnhardt 619 -45
6) lougreen03 619 -45
7) Cowboy6622 617 -47
8) STUMPMI 613 -51
9) JuniorCar 608 -56
10) zjerry 604 -60
11) silverfish33 563 -101
12) 03JGMonte 557 -107
13) montecarlo3831 549 -115
14) adgm2005 546 -118
15) 77GP 530 -134
16) butch049 447 -217
17) SupersportSteve 243 -205
18) RocknSS04 220 -228
19) Ricks 2006 SS 213 -235
20) 01 Monte SS 68
21) SSmeansSuperSexy 60
22) 06 Mistre SS 45
Sonoma History
NASCAR has been coming here since 1990. However, the track was built in 1968. Although the tradition of coming to Infinion, what was once Sears Point, is not a very long or even popular tradition of NASCAR, the tradition of going west to run a road course is.
Sonoma has its own history... it was the site of Earnhardts one and only road course win.... he smelled rear end grease on the track when Martin didn't and made a pass with a few laps to go. His rugged driving manner and way he slung cars into corners just didn't suit the finese needed to run a road course very well.
However, dating back to the 1950s, the first race on the NASCAR schedule was a road course race in Riverside, CA, just a few miles from where the Fontana Speedway is today... the track was overrun by progress and profit of shopping malls, which make money all year, as oppposed to race tracks just a few weeks a year. It was a long tradition that teams took pride in winning. Drivers like AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Parnelli Jones would masquerade as ringers and won several of these races. Dan Gurney won 7 races here for ford, 1 in a Torino, and was so successful that Mercury even released a Dan Gurney Cyclone in his honor... white and black.
Today, we talk about staying on the track as being important to winning races here. However, back in the 70s, sometimes the sand and grass was used to pass cars!!!
Richard Petty got his first and I think only road course win in 1969, driving a Ford Torino he had purchased from the Wood Brothers. The car was on display at Daytona during speedweeks a few weeks later... .PEtty had been running Riverside for years, but hte ringers kept on beating him. Yet in '69, he finally got all the glory, winning his very first race in a Ford.
Here are a stack of pictures a fan that day took. All of these pictures are taken as field reaches the peak of the esses. It was a caution-free race.... one of very few in NASCAR history.
And here is Dan Gurney in 1968 going up into the esses, en route to a victory.
This was Gurneys winning Torino.
Ford made sure in thier marketing that everyone knew Petty won his first race in a Ford, and made sure everyone knew Ford had won its 8th race at Riverside in a row. Here is the pit stop and the magazine article about Pettys somewhat famous win.
Here are some pictures from the summer Riverside race... NASCAR decided the event was so popular, they would go back to Riverside and run it again in the summer, but the desert heat proved to keep fans away.... it was also a shorter race.
My source says that is Darrell Waltrip taht Petty is leading in 1974 ,but it looks like David Pearsons Mercury to me.
THIS WEEK AT SONOMA
Sonoma used to bore people. Howeve,r with the new double file restarts, and the new car with the way ti races, Sonoma is almost a slug fest. These race tracks used to be known for long green runs, boring racing, and JEff Gordon dominating. However, gordon hasn't dominated in several years. Drivers used to see these races as irrelavant, claimed stock cars belonged on ovals, and some of the teams would hire ringers to replace regular drivers if they weren't in the hunt for championships. Teams like Bobby Hamilton and the such would hire a ringer. Sometimes, those ringers ran well... Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon started out as ringers for these things. See how far the ygot?
However, with the Chase on the horizon, getting in is more important, and some race teams like Jack Roush and Hendrick hire people to train their regular drivers how to run road courses. Roush hired Boris Said to train Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth ,and Greg Biffle. Hendrick hired the Bondurant driving school in Arizona to train Jimmie Johnson. These races are becoming more important, and suddenly, all kinds of drivers are challenging for wins. Guys like Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Kevin Harvick win races at these places.
Plus, Sonoma has a lot of small, tight corners. The new car seems to bump and bang really well here. The place is like an oversized Bristol or Martinsvile, with all the action that Bristol USED to have. Fights break out at these tracks. Guys wreck each other. It's nuts.
Also, most of the winners from this race have come from the Top 7 qualifying spots. Despite all the action, the cars that start up front tend to stay up front and dominate the race. So keep that in mind as you make your picks.
CHEVROLET TEAMS
Hendrick Motorsports
I feel like Hendrick is just on top of the world right now. They were a bit off last year and a little off in 2010, but they have the act together now. Jeff Gordon even has a couple of decent runs to build something out of right now. Jeff Gordon used to be the dominant guy and everyone wondered who would run 2nd to him when we came to Sonoma. Statistically, he still gets a top 5-top 10 most times he comes. However, it isn't like that anymore, and with his up and down luck right now, can you really trust JefF Gordon to get you the win? Yet with wins being necessary for Gordon to make the chase, perhaps Sonoma is the place where Gordon turns that season around and starts putting numbers in the W column.
Jimmie Johnson used to suck here, yet he put a road course on his bucket list, he even runs Nationwide races on them, and he does what he can to improve . He won here a couple years back. Johnson is athreat anywhere right now. He has also run well here in the last 4-5 years.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has never scored a top 10 here. JUNIOR NATION, BE AWARE OF THIS He has one top 10 on a road course for all time, nad that was at the other one Watkins Glen, in 2004, a year he was good. If Junior wins at Sonoma, I'll do something humiliating and put it on YouTube for you. Junior has run 11th here 3 times, most recently in 2010. Other times? 2003, 2004.
Kasey Kahne won here once, but I feel like it was a fluke. He has run 4th and 1st here, his only top 10s.....
Richard Childress Racing
Kevin Harvick is a good guy to talk about here. Harvick is good at letting a race come to him and coming on at teh end. That kind of patience, running your own race, and letting your strategy play out is a vital skill when it comes to road course racing. I feel like Harvick should be a threat for this thing. Burton and Menard might make some noise. M enard comes from a road racing background, so he might just break out and run well here. However, although this should suit him, he doesnt' really bring the stats here you would like him to.
Stewart Haas Racing
Stewart is kidn of the guy who stole some of that Sonoma thunder from Jeff Gordon. STewart still runs well here, but even he hasn't run so well in some recent years here. He seems to either win or run 15th, like everywhere else. It's so up and down and all over the place. But ol' Stewart is doing good this year, so if he qualifies well, I say go for him.
Newman started out his career running decent on roadcourses, but has been absolutely crap in the last 4-5 years.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Montoyas only wins have come on road courses. Montoya as a couple of good runs going, but can we trust him to seal the deal? It's hard to say really. He won his first race here in 2007, and his stats have progressively gone down hill since. He has a couple of good runs going, so can eh turn it around?
I also feel like Jamie McMurray is a pretty underrated road course guy.
FORD TEAMS
Roush RAcing
I feel like Carl Edwards is a very underrated road course racer, and I think Sonoma is his better track. HE has won a Nationwide race in Montreal. He ran something like 3rd here last year. I think this may be a track for him to get some luck going and try to post a decent finish. He's got a few good finishes to build on right now. He has a few top 10s, but he is really inconsistent. But he ran 3rd last year... and a big thing to remember is that for years, Edwards used to fly back and forth between ehre and Milwaukee to run the Nationwide/Busch series races there on Saturday nights and then run Cali the next afternoon.
Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth don't really like tracks that don't have banking. I think Kenseth may be the safer bet, but Biffle is doing so well rightn ow i'ts hard to tell.
Petty Enterpirse
Don't usually talk about them, but Almirola comes from a road racing background, and Ambrose won Watkins Glen last year. Ambrose is a talented guy on these tracks, and he has had some bad luck this year. I feel like he is a high risk pick. He will either win the race or end up in the garage.
TOYOTA TEAMS
Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch won here once, but he seems to be really over driving cars right now. You just can't overdrive a car on a roadcourse. I know that Max Papis has been training Joey Logano and even talking to him during races, but I don't know hwat that will translate to Logano ran well last yea,r but was that a one time deal?. I don't know what will come of ol' Hamster though.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Martin Truex is a pretty underrated road course runner. He doesn't have the stats, but he started running well last year nad is running well every where this year. I look for Truex to do well. So is Mark Martin, if Martin runs. Clint Bowyer is actually a pretty solid driver on at Sonoma, and he is actually much better than I think most people expected him to be at MWR. WAtch out.
DODGE TEAM
Brad Keseloski is turning into a guy who is a contender wherever he goes. He ran 10th last year, but doesn't have a strong road course racing history to look at. However, I feel like we're reaching that point in the season wehre the Dodge support is tapering off drastically.
AJ Allmendinger already won a road course this year in Daytona, and I feel like he will be a threat this week with that Penske equipment, in a one time deal.
My Picks
Man, so hard to tell..... I'm down to a lot of guys really, and I think I'm going to base my decision on qualifying. Right now, I'm going to go with...
1) Marcos Ambrose
2) Jimmie Johnson
3) Jeff Gordon
Points, Intro, and Congratulatory Remarks
There are a lot of people to congratulate. First off, congrats to bblackstone for pulling off the Michigan win. He has won both of the 2 mile races this year, which makes him a favorite to win when we go back to Michigan and even going to Indianapolis this year.
And going into our first road course of the year, the defending winner is....
Defending Winner: silverfish33
I remember htat one well... I was 2nd and would have won, yet I had invited him to come pick and run with us and he came out, made picks for his first race, and won the thing....
Congrats to Carl Martin again for holding the overall points lead, but we also must congratulate Leprechaun 93 for taking over the Segment points lead. The Segment is becoming important as we go because there are only three more races, including this one, in this Segment.
Overall:
1) carlm54stl 1596 Leader
2) JuniorCar 1574 -22
3) bblackstone 1555 -41
4) SupplySgt 1530 -66
5) Cowboy6622 1527 -69
6) zJerry 1516 -80
7) Leprechaun93 1515 -81
8) lougreen03 1505 -91
9) montecarlo3831 1486 -110
10) 02 Earnhardt 1485 -111
11) 03JGMonte 1442 -154
12) butch049 1392 -204
13) 77GP 1381 -215
14) silverfish 1302 -294
15) STUMPMI 1262 -336
16) RocknSS04 1142
17) adgm2005 1018
18) SuperSportSteve 928
19) 01 Monte SS 908
20) 06 Mistre SS 428
21) Teacher 306
22) Ricks 2006 SS 213
23) yutzybrian 211
24) Racebound2 83
25) Possum 77
26) 04chevyboy 76
27) Emily666 61
28) SSMeansSuperSexy 60
29) mousehouse 54
Segment 2 Points
1) Leprechuan 664 Leader
2) carlm54stl 646 -18
3) bblackstone 634 -30
4) SupplySgt 626 -38
5) 02 Earnhardt 619 -45
6) lougreen03 619 -45
7) Cowboy6622 617 -47
8) STUMPMI 613 -51
9) JuniorCar 608 -56
10) zjerry 604 -60
11) silverfish33 563 -101
12) 03JGMonte 557 -107
13) montecarlo3831 549 -115
14) adgm2005 546 -118
15) 77GP 530 -134
16) butch049 447 -217
17) SupersportSteve 243 -205
18) RocknSS04 220 -228
19) Ricks 2006 SS 213 -235
20) 01 Monte SS 68
21) SSmeansSuperSexy 60
22) 06 Mistre SS 45
Sonoma History
NASCAR has been coming here since 1990. However, the track was built in 1968. Although the tradition of coming to Infinion, what was once Sears Point, is not a very long or even popular tradition of NASCAR, the tradition of going west to run a road course is.
Sonoma has its own history... it was the site of Earnhardts one and only road course win.... he smelled rear end grease on the track when Martin didn't and made a pass with a few laps to go. His rugged driving manner and way he slung cars into corners just didn't suit the finese needed to run a road course very well.
However, dating back to the 1950s, the first race on the NASCAR schedule was a road course race in Riverside, CA, just a few miles from where the Fontana Speedway is today... the track was overrun by progress and profit of shopping malls, which make money all year, as oppposed to race tracks just a few weeks a year. It was a long tradition that teams took pride in winning. Drivers like AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Parnelli Jones would masquerade as ringers and won several of these races. Dan Gurney won 7 races here for ford, 1 in a Torino, and was so successful that Mercury even released a Dan Gurney Cyclone in his honor... white and black.
Today, we talk about staying on the track as being important to winning races here. However, back in the 70s, sometimes the sand and grass was used to pass cars!!!
Richard Petty got his first and I think only road course win in 1969, driving a Ford Torino he had purchased from the Wood Brothers. The car was on display at Daytona during speedweeks a few weeks later... .PEtty had been running Riverside for years, but hte ringers kept on beating him. Yet in '69, he finally got all the glory, winning his very first race in a Ford.
Here are a stack of pictures a fan that day took. All of these pictures are taken as field reaches the peak of the esses. It was a caution-free race.... one of very few in NASCAR history.
And here is Dan Gurney in 1968 going up into the esses, en route to a victory.
This was Gurneys winning Torino.
Ford made sure in thier marketing that everyone knew Petty won his first race in a Ford, and made sure everyone knew Ford had won its 8th race at Riverside in a row. Here is the pit stop and the magazine article about Pettys somewhat famous win.
Here are some pictures from the summer Riverside race... NASCAR decided the event was so popular, they would go back to Riverside and run it again in the summer, but the desert heat proved to keep fans away.... it was also a shorter race.
My source says that is Darrell Waltrip taht Petty is leading in 1974 ,but it looks like David Pearsons Mercury to me.
THIS WEEK AT SONOMA
Sonoma used to bore people. Howeve,r with the new double file restarts, and the new car with the way ti races, Sonoma is almost a slug fest. These race tracks used to be known for long green runs, boring racing, and JEff Gordon dominating. However, gordon hasn't dominated in several years. Drivers used to see these races as irrelavant, claimed stock cars belonged on ovals, and some of the teams would hire ringers to replace regular drivers if they weren't in the hunt for championships. Teams like Bobby Hamilton and the such would hire a ringer. Sometimes, those ringers ran well... Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon started out as ringers for these things. See how far the ygot?
However, with the Chase on the horizon, getting in is more important, and some race teams like Jack Roush and Hendrick hire people to train their regular drivers how to run road courses. Roush hired Boris Said to train Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth ,and Greg Biffle. Hendrick hired the Bondurant driving school in Arizona to train Jimmie Johnson. These races are becoming more important, and suddenly, all kinds of drivers are challenging for wins. Guys like Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Kevin Harvick win races at these places.
Plus, Sonoma has a lot of small, tight corners. The new car seems to bump and bang really well here. The place is like an oversized Bristol or Martinsvile, with all the action that Bristol USED to have. Fights break out at these tracks. Guys wreck each other. It's nuts.
Also, most of the winners from this race have come from the Top 7 qualifying spots. Despite all the action, the cars that start up front tend to stay up front and dominate the race. So keep that in mind as you make your picks.
CHEVROLET TEAMS
Hendrick Motorsports
I feel like Hendrick is just on top of the world right now. They were a bit off last year and a little off in 2010, but they have the act together now. Jeff Gordon even has a couple of decent runs to build something out of right now. Jeff Gordon used to be the dominant guy and everyone wondered who would run 2nd to him when we came to Sonoma. Statistically, he still gets a top 5-top 10 most times he comes. However, it isn't like that anymore, and with his up and down luck right now, can you really trust JefF Gordon to get you the win? Yet with wins being necessary for Gordon to make the chase, perhaps Sonoma is the place where Gordon turns that season around and starts putting numbers in the W column.
Jimmie Johnson used to suck here, yet he put a road course on his bucket list, he even runs Nationwide races on them, and he does what he can to improve . He won here a couple years back. Johnson is athreat anywhere right now. He has also run well here in the last 4-5 years.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has never scored a top 10 here. JUNIOR NATION, BE AWARE OF THIS He has one top 10 on a road course for all time, nad that was at the other one Watkins Glen, in 2004, a year he was good. If Junior wins at Sonoma, I'll do something humiliating and put it on YouTube for you. Junior has run 11th here 3 times, most recently in 2010. Other times? 2003, 2004.
Kasey Kahne won here once, but I feel like it was a fluke. He has run 4th and 1st here, his only top 10s.....
Richard Childress Racing
Kevin Harvick is a good guy to talk about here. Harvick is good at letting a race come to him and coming on at teh end. That kind of patience, running your own race, and letting your strategy play out is a vital skill when it comes to road course racing. I feel like Harvick should be a threat for this thing. Burton and Menard might make some noise. M enard comes from a road racing background, so he might just break out and run well here. However, although this should suit him, he doesnt' really bring the stats here you would like him to.
Stewart Haas Racing
Stewart is kidn of the guy who stole some of that Sonoma thunder from Jeff Gordon. STewart still runs well here, but even he hasn't run so well in some recent years here. He seems to either win or run 15th, like everywhere else. It's so up and down and all over the place. But ol' Stewart is doing good this year, so if he qualifies well, I say go for him.
Newman started out his career running decent on roadcourses, but has been absolutely crap in the last 4-5 years.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Montoyas only wins have come on road courses. Montoya as a couple of good runs going, but can we trust him to seal the deal? It's hard to say really. He won his first race here in 2007, and his stats have progressively gone down hill since. He has a couple of good runs going, so can eh turn it around?
I also feel like Jamie McMurray is a pretty underrated road course guy.
FORD TEAMS
Roush RAcing
I feel like Carl Edwards is a very underrated road course racer, and I think Sonoma is his better track. HE has won a Nationwide race in Montreal. He ran something like 3rd here last year. I think this may be a track for him to get some luck going and try to post a decent finish. He's got a few good finishes to build on right now. He has a few top 10s, but he is really inconsistent. But he ran 3rd last year... and a big thing to remember is that for years, Edwards used to fly back and forth between ehre and Milwaukee to run the Nationwide/Busch series races there on Saturday nights and then run Cali the next afternoon.
Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth don't really like tracks that don't have banking. I think Kenseth may be the safer bet, but Biffle is doing so well rightn ow i'ts hard to tell.
Petty Enterpirse
Don't usually talk about them, but Almirola comes from a road racing background, and Ambrose won Watkins Glen last year. Ambrose is a talented guy on these tracks, and he has had some bad luck this year. I feel like he is a high risk pick. He will either win the race or end up in the garage.
TOYOTA TEAMS
Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch won here once, but he seems to be really over driving cars right now. You just can't overdrive a car on a roadcourse. I know that Max Papis has been training Joey Logano and even talking to him during races, but I don't know hwat that will translate to Logano ran well last yea,r but was that a one time deal?. I don't know what will come of ol' Hamster though.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Martin Truex is a pretty underrated road course runner. He doesn't have the stats, but he started running well last year nad is running well every where this year. I look for Truex to do well. So is Mark Martin, if Martin runs. Clint Bowyer is actually a pretty solid driver on at Sonoma, and he is actually much better than I think most people expected him to be at MWR. WAtch out.
DODGE TEAM
Brad Keseloski is turning into a guy who is a contender wherever he goes. He ran 10th last year, but doesn't have a strong road course racing history to look at. However, I feel like we're reaching that point in the season wehre the Dodge support is tapering off drastically.
AJ Allmendinger already won a road course this year in Daytona, and I feel like he will be a threat this week with that Penske equipment, in a one time deal.
My Picks
Man, so hard to tell..... I'm down to a lot of guys really, and I think I'm going to base my decision on qualifying. Right now, I'm going to go with...
1) Marcos Ambrose
2) Jimmie Johnson
3) Jeff Gordon
Last edited by Cowboy6622; 06-23-2012 at 03:07 PM.
#2
06-17-2012, 09:48 PM
Dale Earnhardt Jr
Jimmie Johnson
Marcos Ambrose
jr has momentum on his side now that he has won a race, why not go out and win the next week as well, he ran good there last year until he got radiator damage and fried the engine.
Jimmie Johnson
Marcos Ambrose
jr has momentum on his side now that he has won a race, why not go out and win the next week as well, he ran good there last year until he got radiator damage and fried the engine.
#6
06-18-2012, 02:32 PM
NASCAR Weekly Picks
Editing Note: I'm going to get some of the basics down tonight (Sunday), but I'm probably going to put most of the team information up tomorrow because I'm not very comfortable with who is good on what tracks. Check the stats first.)
Points, Intro, and Congratulatory Remarks
There are a lot of people to congratulate. First off, congrats to bblackstone for pulling off the Michigan win. He has won both of the 2 mile races this year, which makes him a favorite to win when we go back to Michigan and even going to Indianapolis this year.
And going into our first road course of the year, the defending winner is....
Defending Winner: silverfish33
I remember htat one well... I was 2nd and would have won, yet I had invited him to come pick and run with us and he came out, made picks for his first race, and won the thing....
Congrats to Carl Martin again for holding the overall points lead, but we also must congratulate Leprechaun 93 for taking over the Segment points lead. The Segment is becoming important as we go because there are only three more races, including this one, in this Segment.
Overall:
1) carlm54stl 1596 Leader
2) JuniorCar 1574 -22
3) bblackstone 1555 -41
4) SupplySgt 1530 -66
5) Cowboy6622 1527 -69
6) zJerry 1516 -80
7) Leprechaun93 1515 -81
8) lougreen03 1505 -91
9) montecarlo3831 1486 -110
10) 02 Earnhardt 1485 -111
11) 03JGMonte 1442 -154
12) butch049 1392 -204
13) 77GP 1381 -215
14) silverfish 1302 -294
15) STUMPMI 1262 -336
16) RocknSS04 1142
17) adgm2005 1018
18) SuperSportSteve 928
19) 01 Monte SS 908
20) 06 Mistre SS 428
21) Teacher 306
22) Ricks 2006 SS 213
23) yutzybrian 211
24) Racebound2 83
25) Possum 77
26) 04chevyboy 76
27) Emily666 61
28) SSMeansSuperSexy 60
29) mousehouse 54
Segment 2 Points
1) Leprechuan 664 Leader
2) carlm54stl 646 -18
3) bblackstone 634 -30
4) SupplySgt 626 -38
5) 02 Earnhardt 619 -45
6) lougreen03 619 -45
7) Cowboy6622 617 -47
8) STUMPMI 613 -51
9) JuniorCar 608 -56
10) zjerry 604 -60
11) silverfish33 563 -101
12) 03JGMonte 557 -107
13) montecarlo3831 549 -115
14) adgm2005 546 -118
15) 77GP 530 -134
16) butch049 447 -217
17) SupersportSteve 243 -205
18) RocknSS04 220 -228
19) Ricks 2006 SS 213 -235
20) 01 Monte SS 68
21) SSmeansSuperSexy 60
22) 06 Mistre SS 45
Sonoma History
NASCAR has been coming here since 1990. However, the track was built in 1968. Although the tradition of coming to Infinion, what was once Sears Point, is not a very long or even popular tradition of NASCAR, the tradition of going west to run a road course is.
Sonoma has its own history... it was the site of Earnhardts one and only road course win.... he smelled rear end grease on the track when Martin didn't and made a pass with a few laps to go. His rugged driving manner and way he slung cars into corners just didn't suit the finese needed to run a road course very well.
However, dating back to the 1950s, the first race on the NASCAR schedule was a road course race in Riverside, CA, just a few miles from where the Fontana Speedway is today... the track was overrun by progress and profit of shopping malls, which make money all year, as oppposed to race tracks just a few weeks a year. It was a long tradition that teams took pride in winning. Drivers like AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Parnelli Jones would masquerade as ringers and won several of these races. Dan Gurney won 7 races here for ford, 1 in a Torino, and was so successful that Mercury even released a Dan Gurney Cyclone in his honor... white and black.
Today, we talk about staying on the track as being important to winning races here. However, back in the 70s, sometimes the sand and grass was used to pass cars!!!
Richard Petty got his first and I think only road course win in 1969, driving a Ford Torino he had purchased from the Wood Brothers. The car was on display at Daytona during speedweeks a few weeks later... .PEtty had been running Riverside for years, but hte ringers kept on beating him. Yet in '69, he finally got all the glory, winning his very first race in a Ford.
Here are a stack of pictures a fan that day took. All of these pictures are taken as field reaches the peak of the esses. It was a caution-free race.... one of very few in NASCAR history.
And here is Dan Gurney in 1968 going up into the esses, en route to a victory.
This was Gurneys winning Torino.
Ford made sure in thier marketing that everyone knew Petty won his first race in a Ford, and made sure everyone knew Ford had won its 8th race at Riverside in a row. Here is the pit stop and the magazine article about Pettys somewhat famous win.
Here are some pictures from the summer Riverside race... NASCAR decided the event was so popular, they would go back to Riverside and run it again in the summer, but the desert heat proved to keep fans away.... it was also a shorter race.
My source says that is Darrell Waltrip taht Petty is leading in 1974 ,but it looks like David Pearsons Mercury to me.
THIS WEEK AT SONOMA
Sonoma used to bore people. Howeve,r with the new double file restarts, and the new car with the way ti races, Sonoma is almost a slug fest. These race tracks used to be known for long green runs, boring racing, and JEff Gordon dominating. However, gordon hasn't dominated in several years. Drivers used to see these races as irrelavant, claimed stock cars belonged on ovals, and some of the teams would hire ringers to replace regular drivers if they weren't in the hunt for championships. Teams like Bobby Hamilton and the such would hire a ringer. Sometimes, those ringers ran well... Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon started out as ringers for these things. See how far the ygot?
However, with the Chase on the horizon, getting in is more important, and some race teams like Jack Roush and Hendrick hire people to train their regular drivers how to run road courses. Roush hired Boris Said to train Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth ,and Greg Biffle. Hendrick hired the Bondurant driving school in Arizona to train Jimmie Johnson. These races are becoming more important, and suddenly, all kinds of drivers are challenging for wins. Guys like Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Kevin Harvick win races at these places.
Plus, Sonoma has a lot of small, tight corners. The new car seems to bump and bang really well here. The place is like an oversized Bristol or Martinsvile, with all the action that Bristol USED to have. Fights break out at these tracks. Guys wreck each other. It's nuts.
Also, most of the winners from this race have come from the Top 7 qualifying spots. Despite all the action, the cars that start up front tend to stay up front and dominate the race. So keep that in mind as you make your picks.
CHEVROLET TEAMS
Hendrick Motorsports
I feel like Hendrick is just on top of the world right now. They were a bit off last year and a little off in 2010, but they have the act together now. Jeff Gordon even has a couple of decent runs to build something out of right now. Jeff Gordon used to be the dominant guy and everyone wondered who would run 2nd to him when we came to Sonoma. However, it isn't like that anymore, and with his up and down luck right now, can you really trust JefF Gordon to get you the win? Yet with wins being necessary for Gordon to make the chase, perhaps Sonoma is the place where Gordon turns that season around and starts putting numbers in the W column.
Jimmie Johnson used to suck here, yet he put a road course on his bucket list, he even runs Nationwide races on them, and he does what he can to improve . He won here a couple years back. Johnson is athreat anywhere right now.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has never scored a top 10 here. JUNIOR NATION, BE AWARE OF THIS He has one top 10 on a road course for all time, nad that was at the other one Watkins Glen, in 2004, a year he was good. If Junior wins at Sonoma, I'll do something humiliating and put it on YouTube for you.
Kasey Kahne won here once, but I feel like it was a fluke.
Richard Childress Racing
Kevin Harvick is a good guy to talk about here. Harvick is good at letting a race come to him and coming on at teh end. That kind of patience, running your own race, and letting your strategy play out is a vital skill when it comes to road course racing. I feel like Harvick should be a threat for this thing. Burton and Menard might make some noise. M enard comes from a road racing background, so he might just break out and run well here.
Stewart Haas Racing
Stewart is kidn of the guy who stole some of that Sonoma thunder from Jeff Gordon. STewart still runs well here, but even he hasn't run so well in some recent years here. It's so up and down and all over the place. But ol' Stewart is doing good this year, so if he qualifies well, I say go for him.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Montoyas only wins have come on road courses. Montoya as a couple of good runs going, but can we trust him to seal the deal? It's hard to say really.
I also feel like Jamie McMurray is a pretty underrated road course guy.
FORD TEAMS
Roush RAcing
I feel like Carl Edwards is a very underrated road course racer, and I think Sonoma is his better track. HE has won a Nationwide race in Montreal. He ran something like 3rd here last year. I think this may be a track for him to get some luck going and try to post a decent finish. He's got a few good finishes to build on right now.
Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth don't really like tracks that don't have banking. I think Kenseth may be the safer bet, but Biffle is doing so well rightn ow i'ts hard to tell.
Petty Enterpirse
Don't usually talk about them, but Almirola comes from a road racing background, and Ambrose won Watkins Glen last year. Ambrose is a talented guy on these tracks, and he has had some bad luck this year. I feel like he is a high risk pick. He will either win the race or end up in the garage.
TOYOTA TEAMS
Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch won here once, but he seems to be really over driving cars right now. You just can't overdrive a car on a roadcourse. I know that Max Papis has been training Joey Logano and even talking to him during races, but I don't know hwat that will translate to. I don't know what will come of ol' Hamster though.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Martin Truex is a pretty underrated road course runner. I look for Truex to do well. So is Mark Martin, if Martin runs. Clint Bowyer is hard to tell with really.
DODGE TEAM
Brad Keseloski is turning into a guy who is a contender wherever he goes. However, I feel like we're reaching that point in the season wehre the Dodge support is tapering off drastically.
AJ Allmendinger already won a road course this year in Daytona, and I feel like he will be a threat this week with that Penske equipment, in a one time deal.
My Picks
Man, so hard to tell..... I'm down to a lot of guys really, and I think I'm going to base my decision on qualifying. Right now, I'm going to go with...
1) Marcos Ambrose
2) Carl Edwards
3) AJ Allmendinger
Points, Intro, and Congratulatory Remarks
There are a lot of people to congratulate. First off, congrats to bblackstone for pulling off the Michigan win. He has won both of the 2 mile races this year, which makes him a favorite to win when we go back to Michigan and even going to Indianapolis this year.
And going into our first road course of the year, the defending winner is....
Defending Winner: silverfish33
I remember htat one well... I was 2nd and would have won, yet I had invited him to come pick and run with us and he came out, made picks for his first race, and won the thing....
Congrats to Carl Martin again for holding the overall points lead, but we also must congratulate Leprechaun 93 for taking over the Segment points lead. The Segment is becoming important as we go because there are only three more races, including this one, in this Segment.
Overall:
1) carlm54stl 1596 Leader
2) JuniorCar 1574 -22
3) bblackstone 1555 -41
4) SupplySgt 1530 -66
5) Cowboy6622 1527 -69
6) zJerry 1516 -80
7) Leprechaun93 1515 -81
8) lougreen03 1505 -91
9) montecarlo3831 1486 -110
10) 02 Earnhardt 1485 -111
11) 03JGMonte 1442 -154
12) butch049 1392 -204
13) 77GP 1381 -215
14) silverfish 1302 -294
15) STUMPMI 1262 -336
16) RocknSS04 1142
17) adgm2005 1018
18) SuperSportSteve 928
19) 01 Monte SS 908
20) 06 Mistre SS 428
21) Teacher 306
22) Ricks 2006 SS 213
23) yutzybrian 211
24) Racebound2 83
25) Possum 77
26) 04chevyboy 76
27) Emily666 61
28) SSMeansSuperSexy 60
29) mousehouse 54
Segment 2 Points
1) Leprechuan 664 Leader
2) carlm54stl 646 -18
3) bblackstone 634 -30
4) SupplySgt 626 -38
5) 02 Earnhardt 619 -45
6) lougreen03 619 -45
7) Cowboy6622 617 -47
8) STUMPMI 613 -51
9) JuniorCar 608 -56
10) zjerry 604 -60
11) silverfish33 563 -101
12) 03JGMonte 557 -107
13) montecarlo3831 549 -115
14) adgm2005 546 -118
15) 77GP 530 -134
16) butch049 447 -217
17) SupersportSteve 243 -205
18) RocknSS04 220 -228
19) Ricks 2006 SS 213 -235
20) 01 Monte SS 68
21) SSmeansSuperSexy 60
22) 06 Mistre SS 45
Sonoma History
NASCAR has been coming here since 1990. However, the track was built in 1968. Although the tradition of coming to Infinion, what was once Sears Point, is not a very long or even popular tradition of NASCAR, the tradition of going west to run a road course is.
Sonoma has its own history... it was the site of Earnhardts one and only road course win.... he smelled rear end grease on the track when Martin didn't and made a pass with a few laps to go. His rugged driving manner and way he slung cars into corners just didn't suit the finese needed to run a road course very well.
However, dating back to the 1950s, the first race on the NASCAR schedule was a road course race in Riverside, CA, just a few miles from where the Fontana Speedway is today... the track was overrun by progress and profit of shopping malls, which make money all year, as oppposed to race tracks just a few weeks a year. It was a long tradition that teams took pride in winning. Drivers like AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Parnelli Jones would masquerade as ringers and won several of these races. Dan Gurney won 7 races here for ford, 1 in a Torino, and was so successful that Mercury even released a Dan Gurney Cyclone in his honor... white and black.
Today, we talk about staying on the track as being important to winning races here. However, back in the 70s, sometimes the sand and grass was used to pass cars!!!
Richard Petty got his first and I think only road course win in 1969, driving a Ford Torino he had purchased from the Wood Brothers. The car was on display at Daytona during speedweeks a few weeks later... .PEtty had been running Riverside for years, but hte ringers kept on beating him. Yet in '69, he finally got all the glory, winning his very first race in a Ford.
Here are a stack of pictures a fan that day took. All of these pictures are taken as field reaches the peak of the esses. It was a caution-free race.... one of very few in NASCAR history.
And here is Dan Gurney in 1968 going up into the esses, en route to a victory.
This was Gurneys winning Torino.
Ford made sure in thier marketing that everyone knew Petty won his first race in a Ford, and made sure everyone knew Ford had won its 8th race at Riverside in a row. Here is the pit stop and the magazine article about Pettys somewhat famous win.
Here are some pictures from the summer Riverside race... NASCAR decided the event was so popular, they would go back to Riverside and run it again in the summer, but the desert heat proved to keep fans away.... it was also a shorter race.
My source says that is Darrell Waltrip taht Petty is leading in 1974 ,but it looks like David Pearsons Mercury to me.
THIS WEEK AT SONOMA
Sonoma used to bore people. Howeve,r with the new double file restarts, and the new car with the way ti races, Sonoma is almost a slug fest. These race tracks used to be known for long green runs, boring racing, and JEff Gordon dominating. However, gordon hasn't dominated in several years. Drivers used to see these races as irrelavant, claimed stock cars belonged on ovals, and some of the teams would hire ringers to replace regular drivers if they weren't in the hunt for championships. Teams like Bobby Hamilton and the such would hire a ringer. Sometimes, those ringers ran well... Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon started out as ringers for these things. See how far the ygot?
However, with the Chase on the horizon, getting in is more important, and some race teams like Jack Roush and Hendrick hire people to train their regular drivers how to run road courses. Roush hired Boris Said to train Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth ,and Greg Biffle. Hendrick hired the Bondurant driving school in Arizona to train Jimmie Johnson. These races are becoming more important, and suddenly, all kinds of drivers are challenging for wins. Guys like Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Kevin Harvick win races at these places.
Plus, Sonoma has a lot of small, tight corners. The new car seems to bump and bang really well here. The place is like an oversized Bristol or Martinsvile, with all the action that Bristol USED to have. Fights break out at these tracks. Guys wreck each other. It's nuts.
Also, most of the winners from this race have come from the Top 7 qualifying spots. Despite all the action, the cars that start up front tend to stay up front and dominate the race. So keep that in mind as you make your picks.
CHEVROLET TEAMS
Hendrick Motorsports
I feel like Hendrick is just on top of the world right now. They were a bit off last year and a little off in 2010, but they have the act together now. Jeff Gordon even has a couple of decent runs to build something out of right now. Jeff Gordon used to be the dominant guy and everyone wondered who would run 2nd to him when we came to Sonoma. However, it isn't like that anymore, and with his up and down luck right now, can you really trust JefF Gordon to get you the win? Yet with wins being necessary for Gordon to make the chase, perhaps Sonoma is the place where Gordon turns that season around and starts putting numbers in the W column.
Jimmie Johnson used to suck here, yet he put a road course on his bucket list, he even runs Nationwide races on them, and he does what he can to improve . He won here a couple years back. Johnson is athreat anywhere right now.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has never scored a top 10 here. JUNIOR NATION, BE AWARE OF THIS He has one top 10 on a road course for all time, nad that was at the other one Watkins Glen, in 2004, a year he was good. If Junior wins at Sonoma, I'll do something humiliating and put it on YouTube for you.
Kasey Kahne won here once, but I feel like it was a fluke.
Richard Childress Racing
Kevin Harvick is a good guy to talk about here. Harvick is good at letting a race come to him and coming on at teh end. That kind of patience, running your own race, and letting your strategy play out is a vital skill when it comes to road course racing. I feel like Harvick should be a threat for this thing. Burton and Menard might make some noise. M enard comes from a road racing background, so he might just break out and run well here.
Stewart Haas Racing
Stewart is kidn of the guy who stole some of that Sonoma thunder from Jeff Gordon. STewart still runs well here, but even he hasn't run so well in some recent years here. It's so up and down and all over the place. But ol' Stewart is doing good this year, so if he qualifies well, I say go for him.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Montoyas only wins have come on road courses. Montoya as a couple of good runs going, but can we trust him to seal the deal? It's hard to say really.
I also feel like Jamie McMurray is a pretty underrated road course guy.
FORD TEAMS
Roush RAcing
I feel like Carl Edwards is a very underrated road course racer, and I think Sonoma is his better track. HE has won a Nationwide race in Montreal. He ran something like 3rd here last year. I think this may be a track for him to get some luck going and try to post a decent finish. He's got a few good finishes to build on right now.
Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth don't really like tracks that don't have banking. I think Kenseth may be the safer bet, but Biffle is doing so well rightn ow i'ts hard to tell.
Petty Enterpirse
Don't usually talk about them, but Almirola comes from a road racing background, and Ambrose won Watkins Glen last year. Ambrose is a talented guy on these tracks, and he has had some bad luck this year. I feel like he is a high risk pick. He will either win the race or end up in the garage.
TOYOTA TEAMS
Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch won here once, but he seems to be really over driving cars right now. You just can't overdrive a car on a roadcourse. I know that Max Papis has been training Joey Logano and even talking to him during races, but I don't know hwat that will translate to. I don't know what will come of ol' Hamster though.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Martin Truex is a pretty underrated road course runner. I look for Truex to do well. So is Mark Martin, if Martin runs. Clint Bowyer is hard to tell with really.
DODGE TEAM
Brad Keseloski is turning into a guy who is a contender wherever he goes. However, I feel like we're reaching that point in the season wehre the Dodge support is tapering off drastically.
AJ Allmendinger already won a road course this year in Daytona, and I feel like he will be a threat this week with that Penske equipment, in a one time deal.
My Picks
Man, so hard to tell..... I'm down to a lot of guys really, and I think I'm going to base my decision on qualifying. Right now, I'm going to go with...
1) Marcos Ambrose
2) Carl Edwards
3) AJ Allmendinger
#9
06-18-2012, 06:29 PM
I wonder how many people read these run downs, I notice a lot of people take my advise... sometimes. Maybe I just think the same as a lot of them.
I also wonder how many people ever look at my Torino histoyr. I call it NASCAR history, but everyone who pays attention knows I really focus on the 68-69-70 stuff. I'm starting to expand out a little bit in recent weeks. But I've got some good stuff coming up for Daytona and Bristol.
I just edited in some statistics about this race in the rundown with the drivers..... those stats didn't make Carls quote though, so make sure yo uread the correct rundown
I have also noticed a VERY STRANGE PATTERN IN THE POINTS!!! It is bad luck to have numbers as the first characters in your posting name. No one in the top 10 overall has numbers at the beginning of thier name (like 03JGMonte, 02 Earnhardt, 77GP, 01 Monte SS, 06 Mistre SS)and only 1 person in the top 10 in the segment has numbers as the first characters, that's 02 Earnhardt. You guys need to switch user names and come back. Just file a request to have your "owner points" for your old name transferred to your new one... but mak ethe request with the old account so I know it's you. LOL!
Last week, we mentioned a little bit about Brent bringing the BudChev to Bristol.... well here is the whole story. There is a chance to urn the track for 5 laps the Thursday before the races for $35, Thursday from 8:30-10:30 a.m. I'm thinking I will try to take the Torino if I can get out of work (teaching school, school here starts the next week). I'm really looking forward to going out there for it if I can... I'll be drastically disappointed if I can't.
LINK!!!!
http://bristol.speedwaycharities.org...laps_for_kids/
I also wonder how many people ever look at my Torino histoyr. I call it NASCAR history, but everyone who pays attention knows I really focus on the 68-69-70 stuff. I'm starting to expand out a little bit in recent weeks. But I've got some good stuff coming up for Daytona and Bristol.
I just edited in some statistics about this race in the rundown with the drivers..... those stats didn't make Carls quote though, so make sure yo uread the correct rundown
I have also noticed a VERY STRANGE PATTERN IN THE POINTS!!! It is bad luck to have numbers as the first characters in your posting name. No one in the top 10 overall has numbers at the beginning of thier name (like 03JGMonte, 02 Earnhardt, 77GP, 01 Monte SS, 06 Mistre SS)and only 1 person in the top 10 in the segment has numbers as the first characters, that's 02 Earnhardt. You guys need to switch user names and come back. Just file a request to have your "owner points" for your old name transferred to your new one... but mak ethe request with the old account so I know it's you. LOL!
Last week, we mentioned a little bit about Brent bringing the BudChev to Bristol.... well here is the whole story. There is a chance to urn the track for 5 laps the Thursday before the races for $35, Thursday from 8:30-10:30 a.m. I'm thinking I will try to take the Torino if I can get out of work (teaching school, school here starts the next week). I'm really looking forward to going out there for it if I can... I'll be drastically disappointed if I can't.
LINK!!!!
http://bristol.speedwaycharities.org...laps_for_kids/
Last edited by Cowboy6622; 06-18-2012 at 06:56 PM.
#10
06-18-2012, 07:03 PM
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: London, Ontario
Posts: 5,611
Your advise is slamming jr, and I too will ignore! Jr has won on road courses, just not in Sprint Cup. He is a good road course racer, even if the results don't show it. There has always seemed to be someone else crap to mess up his run in the few road course races they have run. Last year it was because of Pony's dilusional lash out Vickers which was avenged much more professionally then Pony had initiated. But to hold Junior to his road course record is kinda like hold Jeff Gordon's 2012 results to his definition as a driver. Junior tends to run well at road courses and he is going to close one of these things eventually. This seems like as good of a time as any, and I'll take him for first!
I do agree that McMurray is under rated as a road course drive especially, if not as a driver altogether. This should be a great race for EGR, but Peblo is just to much of a flake to ever put stake in. You can count on him to be an a-hole! I hope McMurray's second rate crap equipment holds up.
I wonder how Mark Martin feels about his equipment. Counting MIS, that is 2 races this year where he blew an engine capable of winning in the last 10 laps! The car is fast. Marting is sitting this one out, which is a shame cause he's a great road course driver. Vickers is in.
1. Dale Jr
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Jeff Gordon
(edit) I regrettably have to cut McMurray. Practice and qualifying were not good for him, but very good for Gordon
I do agree that McMurray is under rated as a road course drive especially, if not as a driver altogether. This should be a great race for EGR, but Peblo is just to much of a flake to ever put stake in. You can count on him to be an a-hole! I hope McMurray's second rate crap equipment holds up.
I wonder how Mark Martin feels about his equipment. Counting MIS, that is 2 races this year where he blew an engine capable of winning in the last 10 laps! The car is fast. Marting is sitting this one out, which is a shame cause he's a great road course driver. Vickers is in.
1. Dale Jr
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Jeff Gordon
(edit) I regrettably have to cut McMurray. Practice and qualifying were not good for him, but very good for Gordon
Last edited by JuniorCar; 06-24-2012 at 05:09 AM.