5 keys to victory on the twisting, turning road course that is Sonoma Raceway
Ten different winners in the last 11 races. That's what the 10-turn, 1.99-mile Sonoma Raceway road course has produced since Tony Stewart last won here in 2005.
And with the combination of drivers with better road-racing skills, the win-and-you're-in format to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, double-file restarts and a low-downforce package, Sunday's Save Mart/Toyota 350 is likely to be a veritable rugby scrum at the end.
Six of the top 10 qualifiers for this race have never won here before, which means it's entirely possible that this race will produce the 11th different winner in 12 races.
"The road courses are really tough," said Adam Stevens, the crew chief for reigning series champion Kyle Busch and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. "Nobody really has anything to lose here and everything to gain, so people are a lot more willing to take risks and that makes it a lot harder to get out front and stay out front."
That said, there are five keys to victory here.
CONSERVE TIRES -- It wasn't so long ago that drivers tried to make this race on just two pit stops. Last year, Kyle Busch made four stops and the fresh tires he got at the end of the race made him a winner. Busch says patience is critical here if you want to keep the tires on the car.
"You want to attack and go get those guys that are in front of you and try to get up to them and have the opportunity to pass them," Busch said, "But by the time you get there, you probably wasted some tire and then you don't have anything to go and get by those guys and then you start falling back and losing time. It's definitely a difficult balance."
STRATEGY -- Unlike most ovals, at Sonoma, you can pit under green and not lose a lap. That means guys will be trying all sorts of strategies based around fuel mileage and tire wear.
"At this race you never know what's gonna happen," said Joey Logano. "It's about strategy and the fastest car doesn't always win. A lot of times if you have a top-five car you can figure out ways to win and I feel like we have that, so it's just all about executing the race strategy and getting through the race by keeping your cool and doing all of that right."
"Strategy does play a role and I think that cost us the win last year," said Jimmie Johnson. "I think we just had a handful of laps left and decided to stay out and new tires got to us quickly last year."
MINIMIZE MISTAKES -- With 1,100 turns over 110 laps, there are an awful lot of opportunities to screw up at Sonoma. The keys are to keep your mistakes minor and few in number.
"I really think it's going to be a tough race," said Carl Edwards, the 2014 Sonoma winner and Sunday's pole sitter. "It's going to be hot, it's going to be difficult. I believe this package with the tires that we have is going to put it more in the driver's hands and there's going to be a lot of mistakes made. You're looking at a guy that wrecked out of the race last year just by not using my head and by being too aggressive. It's very easy to mess it up and hopefully we don't do that and it goes well."
TEMPER, TEMPER -- Drivers will lose their minds in the final 10 laps, no question about it. And there will be paybacks. But in order to go the distance, you've got to choose your spots.
"It is easy to get frustrated, but it is still a long race and you have to take care of your equipment as well," said Kyle Larson, who qualified fifth and is one of the pre-race favorites. "You can't be doing payback that often. I don't know everybody races differently, but just try and keep a cool head."
LUCK -- To win at Sonoma, the racing gods have to be on your side, especially in terms of when caution flags come out and how they align with your strategy.
"These races are really hard to win and they don't always go to the best car," said crew chief Stevens. "It's really tough to pick a winner. There's so much dependence on track position and road courses and so many things that can affect track position -- pit strategy, getting a lucky break with the way the cautions fall, having a fast car. Everything can come into play."
