Toyota/Save Mart 350 Qualifying Update

Infineon Raceway -- 06/22/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Jun 21 2008 9:13pm

If you're a believer in statistics, the top 10 is definitely the place to be for the start of Sunday's road course race at Infineon Raceway.

That's because 15 of the 19 Cup races run here were won from a top-10 starting spot -- 12 of them from the top 5, and 7 from the front row.

That is certainly good news for fans of the polesitter, Kasey Kahne, along with the other drivers who qualified in the top 10:

2. Jimmie Johnson (+1585)
3. Kurt Busch (+1485)
4. Bobby Labonte
5 Jeff Gordon (+315)
6. Elliott Sadler
7. Marcos Ambrose (+1285)
8. Robby Gordon (+665)
9. Ryan Newman (+3850)
10. Greg Biffle (+2850)

(field +1885)

A few noteworthy facts about the starting grid:

- Six of the top-10 qualifiers are Dodge drivers, including polesitter Kahne.
- Marcos Ambrose, who qualified 7th, is making his Cup series debut at Sonoma.
- None of the road course "ringers" qualified in the top 10; Boris Said starts 14th.
- There are no Toyotas in the top 10; Denny Hamlin (+1585) starts 13th.

The deepest in the field from which a driver has won at Sonoma was Juan Pablo Montoya (+665) last year, who came from 32nd place. Other than that, no driver has come from further back than 13th to win here in the 18 prior races.

Marcos Ambrose, driving the No. 21 Ford, was strong in all three practice sessions -- one on Friday and two on Saturday. Ambrose had the fastest lap time Friday with a 78.07, and in Happy Hour with a 78.101. He ran 7th Saturday morning and qualified 7th as well. Ambrose was also the fastest qualifier among the go-or-go-home drivers. He did hit the wall, however, in final practice, causing some damage, but not enough to have to go to a backup car.

“We had already set the fastest time, and I guess the car was feeling pretty good, and he kind of let it get out from under him in turn 10," said Len Wood, owner of the No. 21 car. "There is quite a bit of left-side damage, particularly in the front. However, it didn’t bend any suspension parts or the frame or anything like that, so we chose to fix it and patch it up best we can. It won’t look the greatest, but as far as the suspension and those things are concerned, it’ll be fine. It’ll drive fine.”

Ambrose's incident was just one of several that affected drivers during the three practice sessions. Temperatures have been very hot in Sonoma this weekend, making the racing surface even slicker than expected.

After Happy Hour today, Carl Edwards observed, "The heat has made the car really slide around …it drives like a dirt track. You whip the thing around the race track and not blow the tires off - a lot of work for the crew chiefs, but it doesn’t matter - the fastest car is still not going to feel good."

Among the drivers who had problems during practice were:

Practice #1:
Travis Kvavil spun - no damage
Clint Bowyer (+7500) missed a turn in the esses - no damage
Denny Hamlin slid off course - no obvious damage
Matt Kenseth (+12500) spun - no damage

Practice #2:
Michael Waltrip spun Sam Hornish - no obvious damage to either car
David Reutimann hit the wall in the esses - going to a backup
Sam Hornish spun - car being repaired

Practice #3:
Jeff Burton (+5000) spun - no damage.
Marcos Ambrose slid off course - car being repaired
Ryan Newman spun - no obvious damage

Drivers failing to qualify were J.J. Yeley, Scott Riggs, Dario Franchitti, and Brandon Ash.

The top-10 drivers in Happy Hour were: Marcos Ambrose, Ron Fellows (+1600), David Gilliland, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex (+6850), Juan Montoya, Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+3300), Kevin Harvick (+1685), and Tony Stewart.

Marcos Ambrose, however, was the only driver to run in the top 10 in all three practices and qualify in the top 10.

A few notable drivers will be starting the race from 30th or worse. They include Kyle Busch (+3150), 30th, Kevin Harvick, 32nd, Matt Kenseth, 33rd, David Ragan, 38th, and Tony Stewart, 39th.

Look for heat to be a major issue Sunday, affecting both the cars and drivers, with the high temperature expected to be at least 90 degrees.

After several drivers complained of heat-related symptoms in Pocono a few weeks ago, NASCAR intends to monitor both heat and carbon monoxide levels in the Cup cars this weekend.