Sonoma gives some drivers a good chance to make the Chase

Jun 26, 2015 - 5:59 PM Sonoma, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - A.J. Allmendinger knows his best chance of locking himself in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will be with a win in either one of the two road-course races during the regular season -- Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

After taking the past week off, the Sprint Cup Series returns to action this weekend with the first road-course race of the season at Sonoma, located in Northern California's wine country. Watkins Glen in Upstate New York is scheduled for the second weekend in August.

Allmendinger, who is in his second full season with JTG Daugherty Racing, has become one of the best road-course racers in NASCAR lately. One year ago at Sonoma, Allmendinger started second and led a race-high 35 laps before he was involved in an accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He ended up finishing two laps down in 37th.

When Sprint Cup competed at Watkins Glen in August, Allmendinger became a first-time winner in the series after he held off Marcos Ambrose following the last restart with just two laps to go. Allmendinger led 29 of 90 laps, including the final four, in that event.

His win at Watkins Glen last year earned him a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship for the first time in his career. He wound up being eliminated from the first round of the playoffs (the "Challenger Round"), finishing 13th in the point standings.

With 15 races completed this season, Allmendinger sits 22nd in points. He scored back-to-back top-10 finishes at Atlanta and Las Vegas in early March, but has not placed in the top-10 since then. Allmendinger is hoping to win at Sonoma and become the 11th driver to virtually guarantee himself a spot in the Chase.

His hometown of Los Gatos is about 100 miles south of this 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course.

"We all know it's going to be one of our best opportunities to win," Allmendinger said. "Last year (at Sonoma), it was heartbreaking, but in the end, I don't think we had a car good enough to win the race with the way the race played out. So we've got some good ideas this time around that will help us."

Allmendinger also won two road-course races in the Xfinity Series during the 2013 season -- Road America and Mid-Ohio -- driving for Team Penske in those events.

There have been 10 different winners in the past 10 Sprint Cup races at Sonoma -- Tony Stewart (2005), Jeff Gordon (2006), Juan Pablo Montoya (2007), Kyle Busch (2008), Kasey Kahne (2009), Jimmie Johnson (2010), Kurt Busch (2011), Clint Bowyer (2012), Martin Truex Jr. (2013) and Carl Edwards (2014).

"That's a good stat," Stewart said. "I think it used to be 15 to 20 years ago there were only two to three guys who you could pretty much guarantee had a chance to win there. And now there are 12 to 15 guys who have a shot to win the race every year, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think that's what makes the competition so much greater."

Stewart, Gordon, Kahne, Bowyer and Kyle Busch have yet to win a race this season. Montoya is in his second season as a full-time competitor in the IndyCar Series.

In nine previous starts at Sonoma, Bowyer has finished outside the top-10 just twice (16th in 2006 and 31st in 2010). He led 71 of 112 laps in his 2012 win here.

"Anytime you go to a track you've won at, there's confidence," Bowyer said.

Jamie McMurray has started on the pole in the last two races at Sonoma but finished 25th (2013) and fourth (2014). McMurray has not won a Sprint Cup event since October 2013 at Talladega. He is presently seventh in points and has finished seventh in the previous three races -- Dover, Pocono and Michigan.

Gordon has the most wins at Sonoma with five, while Stewart is the only other active driver with multiple victories here. Stewart won at this track in 2001 and '06 and has finished second here three times (2002, '09 and '12). He has placed 19th and 28th in the last two races at Sonoma.

Stewart leads all drivers with five victories at Watkins Glen. The three-time series champion is trying to make the Chase after being absent from it the past two years.

"The teams really pay a lot of attention to the two road courses," Stewart said "It's no longer a situation where teams go into it with the mindset that we're going to just build a car and see what we can get out of it. They know that can be the difference between making the Chase and not making the Chase. So a lot of teams put a lot of resources into the two road courses, knowing if you can get a win at Sonoma that it can lock down your spot in the Chase."

Forty-four teams are on the entry list for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 2:15 p.m. ET, and the race is slated for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, June 28. Race: Toyota/Save Mart 350. Site: Sonoma Raceway. Track: 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course. Start time: 3 p.m. ET. Laps: 110. Miles: 219 (350 kilometers). 2014 Winner: Carl Edwards. Television: FOX Sports 1. Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.