June 21, 2006

By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

This weekend, the NASCAR Nextel Cup series will make its annual trek to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 is one of only two road course racetracks on the Cup circuit. The other road course event will take place at Watkin's Glen, N.Y. in August.

For those new to NASCAR, the two road course competitions differ from the other 34 races on the schedule in that they entail racing on a twisting, turning course where drivers make both right and left-hand turns, rather than an oval-type track which requires turning left only. Road course racetracks usually entertain drivers from other forms of auto racing, such as the Indy Racing League and the Rolex Sports Car Series.

Driving on a road course requires a very different skill set for most stock car drivers. Overall car control, particularly the nonstop dance of a driver's feet between the throttle, brake, and clutch, along with constant shifting and executing tricky right and left turns, have made road-course racing a frustrating if not exasperating experience for some NASCAR competitors.

This weekend as in the past, a few full-time Nextel Cup drivers will be replaced by substitute drivers who specialize in road course racing. For example, veteran road racer Scott Pruett will be sitting in for David Stremme in the No. 40 car on Sunday. Several other driver substitutions will also take place.

In explaining this strategy, Stremme's car owner Chip Ganassi said, "I have been very pleased with the strides that David and the 40 car have made over the last several weeks, and David is an important part of the future of Chip Ganassi Racing. But in Scott Pruett we have one of the best road-course drivers in all of racing and once again have the luxury of being able to utilize that expertise."

Stremme is currently 36th in Cup point standings, and typically that is the case when a road course specialist, a so-called "ringer," is brought in for a regular driver. To a car owner, the substitution is an opportunity to improve the performance of a struggling team, if only for one race. Given the revised qualifying rules in which only the top 35 cars are guaranteed a starting spot in the race, a gain of even one spot in the points is significant, particularly for a car like Stremme's which is currently just one spot away from the qualifying cutoff. In addition, new testing rules limit car owners to six specified test tracks per year, none of which is a road course.

Have road course specialists lived up to billing in NASCAR? A road course ringer has never won a Cup race at either Infineon or Watkin's Glen, the two road racing tracks still on the schedule. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart alone have combined to win 13 of the last 20 races at the two tracks.

On the other hand, the road racers fared pretty well at last year's events, with Ron Fellows and Brian Simo finishing in the top ten at Infineon, and Boris Said and Scott Pruett making it into the top five at Watkin's Glen.

Conventional wisdom has held that it is the younger, less experienced drivers who will struggle the most on the road courses. But Denny Hamlin, who grew up in kart racing, surprised almost everyone with a win in March at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City. Hamlin held off road racing veteran Boris Said who admitted afterwards, "We just got beat. Denny Hamlin's the real deal."

Of course, guys like Hamlin, currently 9th in Cup points, need not worry about being replaced in a road race. Only those car owners looking for a quick shot in the arm for a struggling team will replace a driver for a single event, if for no other reason than doing so deprives the driver of an opportunity to gain valuable seat team on a road racing track.

Nevertheless, with the road course performances of young drivers like Hamlin and NASCAR regulars like Stewart and Gordon, and the fact that more drivers than ever are taking advantage of specialized road course training at professional driving schools, the need to rely on road course specialists is questionable.

Certainly the fans of the drivers who are replaced would argue against the practice, as would the drivers themselves.

But as long as there are struggling teams, a top 35 qualifying rule, and owners who are willing to take advantage of every opportunity to move up in points, NASCAR's road course ringers are likely here to stay.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.