With the new rules for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, where a victory in a regular-season race pretty much assures a driver of one of the 16 Chase berths, this weekend’s road-course race at Sonoma, Calif., offers some drivers their best chance to make the Chase and others a chance to breathe easier knowing a bad finish won’t lead to a precipitous drop in the points standings.
Among those looking to turn a Sonoma win into a Chase berth is Marcos Ambrose, one of the Sprint Cup circuit’s best road racers.
“We know that the race [in Sonoma] this weekend, and in Watkins Glen, the two road races, are our best chance to win a race this year,” Ambrose said on this week’s NASCAR teleconference. “That will automatically lock us into the Chase. Clearly there’s a lot to race for at these two tracks for us. We’ve put a lot of energy and effort into Sonoma.
“We went out there and did the Goodyear tire test earlier in the season. We’ve done some road-course testing as well, so we feel we’re as ready as we can be.”
Ambrose came to America from Australia to pursue a career on the NASCAR circuit, which is dominated by oval tracks, but he’s had the most success on the road courses, which seem to fit the driving style he developed back home. He has six major NASCAR victories — two in Cup at Watkins Glen, and four in the Nationwide Series, with three of those at Watkins Glen and the fourth on the road course in Montreal.
“My natural skill set obviously is road racing,” he said. “I’m quite confident on the ovals but haven’t had the same success I’ve had on the road courses. Really it’s just the years of training. It’s my niche.”
On the other hand, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is taking a relaxed approach to the weekend. His two wins already assure him of a Chase berth, and as one of the less-successful drivers at Sonoma, he doesn’t have to worry about a points drop.
“Last year and every year we would test at those road courses, Road Atlanta and here and there, and work ourselves to death trying to figure out how to go faster at a road course, knowing good and well I wasn’t going to run well because I don’t know how to drive them,” he said. “I can run OK at the Glen every once in a while, but Sonoma, it’s embarrassing, man, I haven’t finished in the top [10] there ever.
“We just decided not to work that hard and just go there without a test and wing it. … We don’t have to dig and gouge for every single position, and we don’t have to worry if it’s a total disaster or if it doesn’t work out, if we get spun out on the last lap.”
Brian Vickers also is looking for a race win to get in the Chase, but he also knows that a driver can make the season-ending run for the title without winning a race.
Just a few weeks back, Vickers was solidly in the top 10 in points but after finishing 42nd at Dover because of a blown engine and 43rd at Michigan due to an opening-lap spin, he’s dropped from eighth in the Sprint Cup standings to 18th, 143 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.
“I don’t think we can just throw the points out the window even though everything that has been done to the points is to emphasize winning,” Vickers said in his team’s weekly release.
Vickers pointed out that if the 2014 rules had been in place last year, Earnhardt would have won the title, and he did not win a race last season.
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