Track Smack: Ring(er) around the road course

1. Can Juan Montoya win this week on the road course in Sonoma?

Joe Menzer: He can. He did it in Mexico on a road course in the Busch Series. But he won't have "teammate" Scott Pruett to kick around this weekend.

Dave Rodman: Montoya might be the ultimate road-course ringer. No offense to anyone else who's practiced the art, but he's a Formula One winner, CART champion and he won his first stock-car road race.

David Caraviello: Sure he can. The guy won at Monaco, for Pete's sake. If you can get around the streets of that little principality, you can win anywhere.

Joe Menzer: Now the real question is, will he?

Dave Rodman: Does anyone else think his momentary lapses will hurt him at Sonoma as much as they have hurt him everywhere else, lately? Juan himself said it's a long race and the least little mistake can doom you.

David Caraviello: Yeah. Hard to think so, the way he's been running the last two months. He's hit some serious dog days in his first full Nextel Cup season.

Joe Menzer: I do think he's frustrated. But if there was ever a race for which he should be totally focused from start to finish, I think it's this one. He thought he would have had more strong runs by now.

Dave Rodman: Well, Scotty would give him all he could handle at Sonoma, Joe -- if he didn't have a Rolex Series race to run at Mid-Ohio. But I think for sure he'd do well to follow Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch around for a while.

David Caraviello: And then there's the whole aggressiveness question. He probably can't be as aggressive at Infineon as he was at Mexico (watch video), given how much more complicated the course is.

Dave Rodman: If he gets on a roll, as he was at Mexico City, he'll be able to be aggressive -- but the problem is Infineon has as few passing spots as Mexico does.

David Caraviello: He's going to have to bide his time and pick his spots. Can Montoya do that? He did often in F1. But he's not in an F1 car anymore.

Dave Rodman: My opinion after Mexico was that this was a guy who came from Formula One, where the start might be your only chance to pass someone -- so there was some desperation involved in his dive bomb of Pruett.

Joe Menzer: I think Montoya will have a strong run, maybe a top-five. But the other thing you have to wonder is that if he gets up there, will someone boot him? He's ticked off lots of guys already this year.

Dave Rodman: Well, I think his tire management skills and skill in driving over-horsepowered cars on worn tires will serve him well. And if he gets in a position where he can use pit strategy to have better stuff at any point -- look out, as Mexico proved. Bombs away! (Continued)