Notebook: Ringers warm up for Sonoma

This weekend's Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway is the first of two road course races in the Nextel Cup Series. Therefore a large group of road course "ringers" has appeared on the 49-car entry list.

The biggest impact on a full-time Cup team has occurred at PPI Motorsports, where former American Le Mans Series GT champion Ron Fellows will step into the No. 32 Chevrolet in place of regular driver Bobby Hamilton Jr.

	Boris Said
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Fellows, who has five NASCAR road course wins at Watkins Glen International -- three in the Busch Series and two in the Craftsman Truck Series -- warmed up for this weekend by finishing second in the GT1 class at last weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans in France driving a factory Corvette.

Terry Labonte, who has an Infineon Cup pole and a number of NASCAR road course wins at other venues, has been put into Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 11 Chevrolet in place of Jason Leffler for this race only.

Boris Said and Scott Pruett, who along with Fellows have the most extensive Cup pedigrees among the drivers who appear when the series turns left and right; are entered by MB/Sutton Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing, respectively.

Said, who has a Truck Series win and a Nextel Cup Bud Pole at Infineon on his resume and who prepared for this weekend with a second place finish driving a BMW to second place in a Grand American Series Grand-Am Cup race at Mosport, Ontario, will wheel his usual No. 36 Chevrolet.

Pruett, the defending Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype champion for Ganassi who is in the middle of a fierce championship battle this season and who was third at Infineon last year, will drive a No. 39 Dodge.

Owner/driver Robby Gordon, a former Infineon winner who has figured in a number of races at the track, has entered a second Chevrolet from his Robby Gordon Motorsports shops -- this one numbered 71 for P.J. Jones.

Among the other newcomers on the entry list this season is Bill Davis Racing shop foreman Tom Hubert, who will drive Kirk Shelmerdine's Ford; and Brian Simo, who will wheel Richard Childress Racing's No. 33 Chevy.

Among those attempting to make their Nextel Cup debuts are Mexican pilot Jose Luis Ramirez in Rick Ware's No. 52 Dodge; Chris Cook in NEMCO Motorsports' No. 87 Chevy; and NASCAR West regular, John Borneman III, who will drive the No. 66 Ford.

Travis Kvapil

Moonlighting Cuppers

No less than five Nextel Cup drivers are tentatively set to compete at Infineon in Saturday's Blue Lizard Australian Suncream 200 for the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series.

Michael Waltrip will drive a Chevrolet in his first start in the Southwest Series; while Kyle Busch, Travis Kvapil, Boris Said and Hermie Sadler are also set to compete.

Said is the only driver who has previously competed in the Southwest Series, including a 25th place effort in last year's Snap-on Tools 200.

"We're looking forward to getting some track time in the Southwest Series," Kvapil said. "This will be my first race in Sonoma so I'll need to get as many laps in as I can."

Busch will drive for the same team, MRG Motorsports; that enabled David Gilliland to take the checkered flag at Infineon in 2004. Kyle's brother Kurt Busch won the Southwest Series race at Infineon in 1999, before he went to work for Roush Racing.

Nextel Cup regular Kevin Harvick also won the event in 2003.

Andretti featured in "Reader's Digest"

His Nextel Cup career might be on hold due to lack of sponsorship, but John Andretti is managing to get some exposure via a feature article in the July, 2005 edition of Reader's Digest.

Reader's Digest used Andretti, who began this season in ppc Racing's No. 14 Ford until the team pulled out of the series, to explain car care and avoidance of passenger car problems in its latest issue. The segment has a photo of Andretti.

"It's kind of neat, especially with a magazine I first saw when I was a kid because my grandmother subscribed to it," Andretti said. "My first thought was, 'I'll be in dentists' offices all over the country.'"

Truex Jr. to make Truck debut

Defending Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. is slated to make his Craftsman Truck Series debut this weekend in the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 at The Milwaukee Mile.

Truex will drive the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevrolet, which uses Dale Earnhardt Incorporated engines, in Friday night's truck race before he competes in Saturday night's SBC 250 for the Busch Series.

Sauter also diversifies

Busch Series regular Johnny Sauter, who is part owner of the No. 43 Chevrolet truck fielded by Edge Performance Group, will make his 2005 debut with the vehicle at Milwaukee with Yellow Transportation -- his Busch Series sponsor -- on the sides.

Sauter will also race at Indianapolis Raceway Park (Aug. 5) and tentatively at Richmond International Raceway (Sept. 8).

"Driving for Team Yellow in the Busch Series has been a great opportunity and their support of my racing goals beyond the series is something that I hope to repay with a couple of top finishes in No. 43 Chevrolet," Sauter said.

Wallace extends streak

With his 10th place finish last weekend in the Batman Begins 400 at Michigan, Rusty Wallace extended a 28-race streak of races running at the finish that began at Bristol last August.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Junior satisfied with team's progress

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s slide in the Nextel Cup standings hasn't been totally arrested, but he saw some sunshine in his 17th place finish at Michigan.

"It's like (crew chief) Steve Hmiel said after the race, we'll never be happy with a 17th-place finish, but we did learn a lot," Earnhardt said last Sunday. "Everybody earned their pay today. We had a car that was really fast during several segments of the race -- and we were able to run with the leaders when we restarted as the first lapped car.

"We started the day so far back, we were never able to gain the track position we needed. I told the guys on my team, even when things suck, it's fun driving with these guys.

"If we keep bringin' stuff like this to the track, we'll get it sooner or later."

Earnhardt also had some good news as the series heads to its first road course.

"I did hear my buddies at the Corvette team finished one-two in their class at Le Mans," Earnhardt said. "That's pretty cool."