Racing in whine country

Posted: Sunday, June 22, 2003

 Jeff Gordon straps himself in before the first practice run for the Dodge Save Mart 350 Saturday. Gordon has had a lot of success on road courses in his career, but other drivers don't like them.Julie Jacobson/AP 

   SONOMA, Calif. - For some, the Napa Valley is whine country.

   A few of the drivers in this afternoon's Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway aren't fans of making left and right turns on a road course. Given a choice, they'd take both road courses on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule and turn them into a vineyard or a parking lot.

   "We don't need any more road courses," said Sterling Marlin. "We don't need the ones we got."

   Marlin has never won on a road course.

   The stock car schedule has 34 official events and a pair of all-star races on ovals. Twice a year, including the race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in August, the sport makes a right turn into sports car territory.

   The Infineon Raceway is carved into the heart of the Napa Valley. It's a 1.99-mile circuit with 10 official turns and twice as many places to run off course.

   "I'd say there are as many as 10 drivers out here who really like (the road courses), another 20 who kind of tolerate them and another 10-to-15 who absolutely hate them," said Kyle Petty. "You go into a road course race and you figure you don't even have to worry about those 10-to-15 guys who hate them. They are beat long before they get on the plane to California.

   "Me, I like road courses."

   Petty has one road course victory in his career.

   Dale Earnhardt Jr. used to be one of the 10-to-15 drivers who hated road courses. Now he's graduated to the tolerance level.

   "I used to dread (Infineon) and Watkins Glen," he said. "I sat on the plane coming out here and wished we could skip it."

   Earnhardt Jr. is 11th in Sunday's starting lineup. He still lacks the rhythm and finesse necessary to throw a 3,400-pound stock car around the series of turns and hills, but instead of giving up, he and his crew are learning to adjust.

   "I'm liking that my guys are getting happy about it," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We've come here before and not had anything to be excited about. Having the right car makes the difference."

   Earnhardt. Jr. has never won on a road course.

   Some teams don't even try to convert a stock car driver into a road course specialist. Pole winner Boris Said and third-place starter Ron Fellows were hired by MB2 Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Inc. to replace their regular drivers for the race (4 p.m., Fox).

   Said, driving in relief of Mike Wallace on the No. 01 Pontiac, broke a track record Friday with a qualifying lap of 93.620 mph. Robby Gordon, now a stock car regular who once was an authority on road courses, was second at 93.262 mph.

   "This is my seventh Winston Cup race (six of them on road courses), and it takes a lot of experience to figure out how to make these cars good at the end of the race and keep them on the road."

   Fellows will drive for Jeff Green in the No. 1 Chevrolet. Green will return to his job when the series moves back to the ovals on July 5 at Daytona Beach, Fla. The road course ringer ran 93.073 mph in time trials.

   Matt Kenseth is fourth in the staring lineup with a lap of 92.879 mph, while Kurt Busch is fifth at 92.879, Kevin Harvick is sixth at 92.840, Rusty Wallace is seventh at 92.822, Jeff Gordon is eighth at 92.800 and Ricky Rudd ninth at 92.732 and Tony Stewart is 10th at 92.666.

   David Simo was hired Friday to shake down Steve Park's Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing. Once he deemed the car fast, he turned over the keys to Park, who couldn't match Simo's speeds in qualifying and will use a provisional exemption to start 40th.

   Simo will stand in Bill Elliott's pits as a relief driver if Elliott's broken left foot starts hurting.



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