Road strategy

SONOMA, Calif. – No one is quite sure who originally came up with the idea of running stock cars on a road course.

Some hard core NASCAR fans say it's unnatural, that these cars are designed to run on ovals.

And some within NASCAR feel the same way.

Count among them veteran crew chief Mike Ford, who directs Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 11 team and rookie driver Denny Hamlin.

"Cup drivers are oval racers and for these races to be points events is a little ludicrous," Ford said. "But that's the game we play."

It takes a specially built car and a completely different mindset to race on one of NASCAR's road courses. It's like taking a fish out of water.

"There's so much to think about," Ford said. "You actually flip the race around and call it from the end of the race forward."

Crew chiefs Pat Tryson (Mark Martin), Tony Eury Jr. (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and Todd Berrier (Kevin Harvick) have their own ideas regarding what the keys to victory are, but each recites a litany of similar elements.

The difference is how they work those elements.

The first item on these lists is so obvious, it tends to get overlooked.

Don't run off course.

As funny as that sounds, it is the first thing they tell their drivers.

Then, they all say, the key to winning Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 300 here at Infineon Raceway is track position. Either you're running up front or you're just running laps. It's that simple.

"If you make an extra pit stop here your day is over," Ford said. "This is a no-mistake race. Whereas other [races] are long enough that you can make it up over time."

Berrier says a team needs to have a plan and stick to it – no matter the circumstances.

"Pitting at the right time," Berrier said. "And not pitting too many times. Sticking to your plan no matter what happens. You can talk yourself into pitting because he doesn't like the car or whatever, but it doesn't matter.

"The main thing is, no matter how loud he screams, no matter how bad things get, you've got to stick to the plan. If you're running fifth and you go back to 25th, then you're 25th. You can't do anything about that."

Unlike the majority of Cup races which are run on ovals, drivers on a road course are racing the track, not just the competition.

On Sunday, each driver has to run 110 flawless laps and not make a mistake, because even one error can cost dozens of positions. Once that critical track position is lost, drivers find themselves back in the pack and pushing to get to the front.

And when pushing hard, drivers open the door to more mistakes.

"If a guy's racing you, you let him go and don't worry about him because chances are if he's pushing it that hard, he's going to get stuck in the weeds anyway," Berrier said.

Eury says he likes to watch what the competition is doing so that he can do the opposite. Also, he adds, knowing how to work the cautions is a must.

"You've got to play it out however the cautions play out," Eury said. "There will be people short pitting [pitting earlier than usual]."

He adds that much of the race strategy depends on how the cautions fall in the early part of the race.

Another option, says Eury, is pitting out of sequence from everyone else so that a driver can run by himself on the track.

"If you're not in traffic then you can run faster than if you're in the whole pack," he said.

Then, of course, there are fuel mileage and pit strategy to think about. Most teams have at least two pit stops scheduled, with a fuel window of 40 to 42 laps.

"The only pit strategy you can use is if you are getting exceptional fuel mileage you may try and pull something out of the hat," Tryson said. "Everybody calls the race so similar now that your strategies are very limited. There's not a lot you can do. You more or less have to beat them on the race track."

Tryson adds that tires, which during practice this weekend have been losing their grip a bit quicker than expected – most likely because of the high temperatures and the older pavement on the race track – won't be an issue in the race.

"Maybe guys will pit more, but I doubt it," Tryson said.

Despite what happens for the first two-thirds of the race, it all comes down to who is in the top five after the final pit stop.

"If you're running in the top five and it comes down to 40 to go and you can pit when you want to, you can end up in a position to win the race," Berrier said. "But on the other hand, if you're running 15th and you pit right, the best you can end up with is a finish in the top eight or 10.

"Obviously, not giving up track position is the only way you're going to win this race."