Infineon Raceway Advance Notes
Race: Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday, June 26
Track: Infineon Raceway (1.99-mile road course)
Location: Sonoma, Calif.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Media Contacts at Infineon Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Jeff Dowling No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet
Shayna Keller No. 42 Cottonelle Chevrolet
NOTES
Jamie McMurray and No. 1 McDonald’s Team
Road Course Racing in Sonoma: McMurray has eight career NSCS starts at the road course in the wine country of Northern California. He has an average starting position of 15.4 including two front row starts, a second-place start in 2006 and a pole in 2007. His best finish came in 2004 when he crossed the finish-line in second. He has zero DNF’s and has completed all but one lap (884 of 885; 99.9%) at Infineon Raceway.
Michigan Review: The No. 1 McDonald’s team began the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 from the 14th-position and battled with a tight race car most of the event. With solid pit stops throughout the race the team worked to find the right balance on the car and managed to keep McMurray running among the top 25 all afternoon to bring home a 19th-place finish.
In the Points: McMurray and the No. 1 team jumped up two positions in the NSCS point standings after the Michigan race and are currently tied for 27th, 112 points out of 12th and 129 points out of 10th.
Going Back to Cali: Sammy Gonzales; mechanic on the McDonalds Chevrolet is a native of Southern California. Gonzales hails from Mission Hills, California approximately 400 miles to the south of this weekend’s race in Sonoma
Visit McDonald’s: Attention Race Fans – Stop at one of two McDonald’s locations within 10 miles of the Infineon Raceway to satisfy your breakfast, lunch or dinner tastes. The McDonald’s locations can be found at 18988 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma CA 95476 and 7340 Redwood Boulevard, Novato CA 94945.
Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Cottonelle Team
Montoya will be doing a media Q&A session outside of the No. 42 hauler on Friday, June 24th at 10:15 a.m. PT
Scene of the Crime: Juan Pablo Montoya returns to the site of his historic first NSCS win. In 2007, Montoya beat Kevin Harvick by 4.097 seconds to take the checkered flag at Infineon Raceway. It was Montoya’s first Cup victory in just his 17th start. In his four starts at Infineon, Montoya has never finished outside of the top-10 and has completed all 335 laps at the 1.99-mile road course.
Consistency is Key: Juan Pablo Montoya has the best average finish of any driver in the history of NSCS events at Infineon Raceway (5.8). Also, Montoya’s 108.6 driver rating puts him in second among active Sprint Cup Drivers at Infineon (Tony Stewart 110.4).
Road Course Ringer: Juan Pablo Montoya has eight career road course starts in the NSCS. In those races, he has posted two wins, three top-five’s, seven top-10’s and has an average finish of 9.1.
Coming from the Back: When Juan Pablo Montoya won at Sonoma in 2007, he started in the 32nd position. It is the deepest a race winner has ever started in the history of a Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway.
In the Rear View: Last week, the No. 42 team headed to the ‘Irish Hills’ of Michigan for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400. During Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, Montoya was able to place the No. 42 Cars 2 Chevrolet in the 25th position for Sunday’s race. When the green flag waved the next day, Montoya immediately had concerns with the car’s handling. He came down pit road at every opportunity for fuel, tires and adjustments. As the laps continued, the Cars 2 Chevrolet continued to be a handful, especially during long green flag runs, and eventually finished out the race in the 30th-position.
Cottonelle Makes an Appearance: Kimberly-Clark’s CottonelleR brand toilet paper will make their first appearance as the primary sponsor on the No. 42 Chevrolet this weekend at Infineon. Kimberly Clark has partnered with Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 for a new campaign where consumers can win Cars 2-themed prizes by collecting codes found on specially marked Kimberly-Clark products. For more information, please visit
Juan Pablo Motor-ya: Juan Pablo Montoya was invited to be one of the translating voices in the Latin American version of Cars 2, specially voicing one of the cars participating in the World Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Motor-ya will race against Rayo McQueen as a contender to determine who the best car in the world is. Cars 2 will premiere this Friday, June 24 at theaters around the world.
CHASSIS INFO
No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1012. Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has elected to bring chassis number #1012 to Infineon Raceway this weekend. This chassis previously ran both road course races in 2010, coming home 15th at Infineon and 6th at Watkins Glen.
No. 42 Cottonelle Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1014. The No. 42 team will bring chassis #1014 to Infineon Raceway this weekend. This same chassis was run at both road courses last season when Montoya finished 10th at Infineon and went to Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International in August.
