Junior Eyes Next Goal: A Road Course Win

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

 

Junior Eyes Next Goal: A Road Course Win

Ending a 143-race winless streak at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday just whetted Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s appetite. Junior obviously wants to join his late father Dale Earnhardt as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. First, he wants a road course victory and he’ll get his next opportunity at Sonoma on Sunday. Junior has yet to finish in the top 10 at the 1.99-mile layout but has a pair of top-five finishes at Watkins Glen International, the other left and right turn course on the schedule.

 

“We have to go to Sonoma and figure out how to get around there and how to get my first top-ten at that place. We have a lot (left) to accomplish this year,” he said. Accident damage and overheating relegated Junior to a 41^st-place finish at Sonoma in 2011.

 

Points Leaders More Than Just Contenders

Roush Fenway Racing vs. Hendrick Motorsports. Ford vs. Chevrolet. What’s not to like about that? The two organizations/manufacturers share the top four spots in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with RFR’s Matt Kenseth holding a four-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. Greg Biffle, who led the points for much of the year, is third followed by five-time champion Jimmie Johnson. Not to rule out anyone among the top 10 – or Wild Card possibles as well – but the four leaders are red hot. They claimed all but one top five positions in Michigan.

 

Kenseth, Earnhardt and Biffle have yet to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup road race.

 

Gordon: Road Course Racing Changes For The Better

Jeff Gordon is a five-time Sonoma winner but that doesn’t mean he’s got the keys to the Northern California course in his pocket. Far from it. Gordon last won in 2006 – the season before the current NASCAR Sprint Cup chassis was introduced. The new car has evened the playing field and brought more contenders into the mix. No longer do many teams bring older, short track cars to the road courses. And, Gordon added, double-file restarts have made the road races more like Martinsville’s slamming and shoving than traditional, follow the leaders and hit your marks affairs.

 

Want more proof? Sonoma’s last seven races have produced seven different winners. The last four – Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch – posted their first Sprint Cup road course victories.

 

It’s the annual homecoming race for Gordon, who was born in Vallejo a few miles east of Sonoma. Busch, Kahne, Johnson and the Busch brothers also hail from the west coast along with Watkins Glen road race winner Kevin Harvick.

 

Who’s Next To Join Road Race Winners’ List?

If there’s an eighth different Sonoma winner he could be Clint Bowyer or Brad Keselowski. Both are battling to retain top-10 points positions and each has a knack for turning left and right. Bowyer, ninth in the standings, finished seventh in Michigan. He owns the third-best average finish among active drivers (11.2) at Sonoma trailing only Jeff Gordon (8.7) and Juan Pablo Montoya (9.0). Keselowski is a relative newcomer to NASCAR Sprint Cup road racing but finished 10^th in last year’s Sonoma race and was second at Watkins Glen after Marcos Ambrose initiated a pass two laps from the checkered flag. Keselowski stands 10^th – three points ahead of another non-road race winner Carl Edwards.

 

Speaking of JPM

It’s been a trying year and half for Juan Pablo Montoya, who entered last weekend’s Michigan race with a single top-10 finish and a points ranking outside the top 20. The Columbian finished eighth running among the top 10 throughout the second half of the 400-mile race. “Our team has a lot of potential and today we showed a little bit of what we can do,” said Montoya who accomplished one goal: reaching the top 20 and a shot at a “wild card” entry into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. JPM qualified for NASCAR’s post season just once finishing eighth in 2009. He scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup win at Sonoma in 2007.

 

Jeff Gordon also became Wild Card eligible (20^th) with his sixth-place finish but the category’s leaders remain Kyle Busch (12^th), Ryan Newman (13^th), Joey Logano (15^th) and Kasey Kahne (16^th). Each has a single win. The two highest ranked competitors with the most wins occupying points positions 11-20 qualify for the post season.

 

Teleconferences On Tap This Week

Rick Hendrick and Steve Letarte, crew chief of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet, will be available at 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, June 19. Letarte, like his driver, broke a long winless streak – 115 races dating to Jeff Gordon’s April 4, 2009 win at Texas Motor Speedway. GRAND-AM points leader Scott Pruett follows at 1 p.m. The weekly NASCAR Teleconference (2 p.m. EDT Tuesday) features Michigan Coors Light Pole winner Marcos Ambrose and Nationwide Series points leader Elliott Sadler at 2:20 p.m. On Wednesday, June 20 Jimmie Johnson will take a break from his annual charity golf tournament for media availability at 2 p.m. EDT. Transcripts are available following each teleconference at nascarmedia.com.