Photos by Joseph Lemus
When Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM to the NASCAR fans) comes to Infineon this Sunday, June 22, he will be considered the favorite to retain his winning title of last year, especially in view of how he got to the front to receive the checkered flag. He passed 31 other drivers to win the race, coming from further back in the pack than anyone else ever has at the 110-lap race. He also beat the odds with fuel mileage, as many opposing teams put him eight laps short to finish the race with the fuel he had on board. Apparently the others were using a different calculator than Montoya’s team was. Other teams pulled into the pits to take on a splash of fuel, leaving the number 42 car on the track, but Montoya was gambling he would make it to the end without the pit stop. Obviously, his gamble paid off.
2007 race winner Juan Pablo Montoya
The Columbian-born driver shocked the racing world in 2006 announcing that he would leave the Formula One circuit, where he had incredible success to join the NASCAR gang, where he had no experience whatsoever. After the win in 2007, Montoya was quoted as saying, “ … In open wheel I was meant to be winning, and in stock cars I wasn’t. To get our first win in our first year is huge.” Montoya became only the third foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR race and the first rookie ever to win at Infineon Raceway.
Other foreign-born road-race drivers have followed suit this year and joined NASCAR. One of those is Dario Franchitti, who could be giving Montoya a run for his money in this year’s challenge. A betting person also can’t look past five-time Infineon winner Jeff Gordon. After being forced to start at the back of the pack in last year’s race, having been disqualified from practice and qualifying for a body modification violation, Gordon climbed 34 spots in the field, two more than Montoya did, to finish with a respectable seventh place position.
This year’s main event, the Toyota – Save Mart 350 on Sunday, will feature a field of 43 cars, the largest starting grid for any feature car race at Infineon Raceway. Saturday’s race, the Bennett Lane Winery 200, features some of the Sprint Cup drivers from the main event as well as many local drivers as part of the NASCAR west series, the oldest stock car racing series on the West Coast.
Timetable for NASCAR
at lnfineon June 20-22
Gates open at 6 a.m. all three days
Friday, June 20
7 a.m. Sprint Cup garages open
8:30 a.m. NASCAR west series practice
10:10 a.m. Legends of NASCAR Practice
10:50 a.m. NASCAR west series final practice
12:30 p.m. Sprint Cup practice
2:20 p.m. NASCAR west series qualifying
4:05 p.m. Sprint Cup qualifying
(one lap only)
10 p.m. Gates close
Saturday, June 21
7:30 a.m. Sprint Cup garages open
8:30 a.m. Legends of NASCAR final practice
9:30 a.m. Sprint Cup series practice
Noon NASCAR West series Bennett Lane
Winery 200 driver introductions
12:30 p.m. NASCAR West series
Bennett Lane Winery 200
3 p.m. Legends of NASCAR race
4:30 p.m. Hot Laps
10 p.m. Gates close
Sunday, June 22
6 a.m. Sprint Cup garage opens
9 a.m. Hot Laps
1:30 p.m. Sprint Cup driver introductions
2 p.m. NASCAR Toyota/Save Mart 350
Sprint Cup race
10 p.m. Gates close
Infineon fun track facts
• The late Dale Earnhardt won his only road course at Infineon Raceway in 1995.
• Michael Waltrip holds the record for the most laps completed at Infineon Raceway. Through 18 races, or 1,774 possible laps, Waltrip has completed 1,658.
• A team of 3,000 sheep and two shepherds living on the property full-time does the raceway property weed control. Known as “Wooly Weeders” the team migrates from Colorado.
• The elevation change on the track from the high point to the low point equals the height of a 16-story building.
• During the 110- lap contest, the drivers will make 1,100 turns and shift gears more than 1,500 times.
• Jeff Gordon is the only five-time winner at Infineon Raceway. The next group closest to that mark has four drivers (Tony Stewart, Ernie Irvan, Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd), each with two wins apiece.
• Infineon Raceway last year recycled 17,450 pounds of glass, 11,955 pounds of plastic bottles and 2,199 pounds of aluminum cans last year.
• During the 2007 NASCAR weekend, 108 tons of ice was consumed at the raceway.
• The largest margin of victory in any NASCAR race at Infineon was 9.56 seconds in 1994 by Ernie Irvan. The shortest was .05 seconds in 1989, when Ricky Rudd held off Rusty Wallace for the victory.
• Jeff Gordon holds the record for the most pole positions with five. He is also the top money winner, earning $1,969,864 over the years.
• Juan Pablo Montoya’s win in 2007 was the first for a Dodge at Infineon Raceway and also the first win for a rookie driver at the track.
• Jeff Gordon holds the track record for qualifying at 94.325 mph in 2005.
• Chevrolet powered cars have won nine out of the 19 NASCAR events at Infineon Raceway. Ford comes in second with six wins, Pontiac third with two and Dodge and Buick with one apiece.
• Guy Fieri, of the Food Network and Santa Rosa’s Johnny Garlic, is the Grand Marshal of this year’s event.
