1. The road-course ringers -- Scott Pruett, Brian Simo, Boris Said, Ron Fellows, etc. -- are back for Sunday's event at Sonoma. Is it a good idea to put these guys in a car for a one-shot deal? And will one of them ever win?

David Caraviello: I love this. The season is so numbingly long, any variety is welcome. The road courses put on better shows than people give them credit for. And these ringers up the ante for the regulars, who don't want to lose to them.

Dave Rodman: If you look at the six cases for Sonoma -- but I think deleting Boris because it's his own team -- it fits, because none of the teams are going anywhere, anyway. So you might as well use the best available shoe.

Joe Menzer: If folks want to keep the ringers out of it, there is one simple solution: have your regular driver invest some time in getting better on the road courses. Until then, bring 'em on. I agree. They spice things up. Fact is, with only two road courses on the schedule, it's difficult to justify having your regular driver invest too much time in getting better on them -- especially when so much time needs to be spent elsewhere getting acclimated with the new car on different tracks that go in circles.

David Caraviello: Many of the Cup regulars once sort of went through the motions on road courses. The presence of the ringers forced these guys to elevate their games, and has made for better races in the process.

Dave Rodman: Will they win? Well, since Dan Gurney -- the ultimate ringer -- they have not had much luck. But they are certainly capable. It's just that these Cup regulars aren't tagged "the best racers on the planet" for no reason.

David Caraviello: Yeah Dave, we're seen a lot of improvement in attitude and ability on road courses over the years. Gurney's win was where, at Riverside in 1968? Been a long time since a ringer has won since.

Joe Menzer: It's funny, but I was just talking to Richard Petty about road racing the other day at Michigan. And dang if Dan Gurney's name wasn't about the first out of his mouth. He said those guys felt like they were racing for second when he came in -- but he only won once?

David Caraviello: My bad, that was just the last one. He won like five other times.

Dave Rodman: Ol' Dan won something like three out of four, I think. I don't think he gets enough credit -- along with A.J. and Mario -- as perhaps being the best American racer, ever.

Dan Gurney

Gurney is one of three drivers, along with Mario Andretti and Juan Montoya, to win a race in NASCAR, Indy Car and Formula One.

Career Results: NASCAR

Track	No.	W	T-5	T-10	Avg. Fin.
Atlanta	1	0	0	0	36.0
Daytona	6	0	3	4	10.8
Riverside	9	5	5	6	8.8

David Caraviello: The official record: Gurney won five out of six years between 1963-68. All of them at Riverside.

Joe Menzer: I knew either Caraviello or the King was losing it a little bit. Should have figured it was the former and not the latter.

Dave Rodman: But these days, the guys in stock cars who excel at road racing -- the Gordons, Stewart -- have such diverse backgrounds and they are so good, excelling on road courses is only one more check in their books not too far removed from everything else they excel at.

David Caraviello: Sorry, Joe, I'm not exactly up on my '60s racing. Anyway, you covered those events, didn't you, Joe?

Joe Menzer: From my crib, yeah. I was born with notepad and pen in hand. Seriously, I think you have me mixed up with the other distinguished (nice word for "old") gentleman on our panel today.

David Caraviello: I'm sure those Riverside races were mandatory viewing in the Menzer household. Anyway, the thing about the ringers today is, several of them are legitimate threats to win each time out. Guys like Fellows and Said usually show up with good stuff.

Dave Rodman: Kevin Harvick gets maybe the most credit in my book for upping his game on the road courses, but there have been some others. Not coincidentally, Robby Gordon mentioned Jeff Burton as another stocker who's made considerable strides -- and you can't leave out Jamie McMurray.

David Caraviello: It's amazing sometime to watch these road-course races unfold. Undoubtedly, there's always someone at the front now that leaves you thinking, wait, when did he become a good road-course racer? McMurray last year at Sonoma certainly fits the bill. We got used to the same guys -- Gordon, Stewart, Rudd, Wallace -- winning all the road races, it's nice to see some change every once in a while.

Dave Rodman: Harvick made note of the fact that having Robby as a teammate at RCR made all of them upgrade all their road-course stuff, so that's a pretty big deal. It has shown since Robby moved on.

Joe Menzer: I think this is maybe where Jeff Gordon makes a stand. Now that Junior has finally won again, it's Gordon's turn to break what is building up into a surprising winless streak. As for the others, they all get better after a while -- or they are replaced by ringers. Even Jimmy Spencer got better at it after a while when he was racing. Jim Hunter said that Spencer used to cut the corners so badly and go flying so high in the air "you could see San Francisco underneath his car."

Editor's Note: Mark Donohue was the last road-course "ace" to win a road-course race in the Cup Series. Donohue won the 1973 Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway in team owner Roger Penske's No. 16 Matador.

2. It's been one year since Juan Montoya's victory, and the Ganassi team appears in complete disarray. Can the former F1 star replicate the feat this weekend?

Joe Menzer: I guess it's not totally out of the question. He's certainly capable as a driver. But their whole Cup operation seems to be in disarray, so I really doubt it.

Juan Montoya

Road to Infineon

Track	2007	2008
Daytona	19	32
Fontana	26	20
Las Vegas	22	19
Atlanta	5	16
Bristol	32	15
Martinsville	16	13
Texas	8	19
Phoenix	33	16
Talladega	31	2
Richmond	26	32
Darlington	23	23
Charlotte	28	30
Dover	31	12
Pocono	20	38
Michigan	43	38
Sonoma	1	?

• Changes taking toll on Montoya

David Caraviello: It needs to be noted that Juan's win last year came on the heels of a brutal stretch, something like eight consecutive weeks in the 30s. So he's been here before. But he also didn't have the instability on his pit box that he has now.

Dave Rodman: He needs to come pretty close, or look out. It was interesting that Robby Gordon on Tuesday said Juan won on fuel mileage and had, at best, a 15th-place car last year. I do remember that being a fuel-mileage deal, but that comes under the same heading as having your car the best it can be, when it needs to be.

Joe Menzer: They haven't done Montoya any favors this year, changing his crew chief, what, three times now? Including once right after his best run of the year, a second-place finish at Talladega.

Dave Rodman: But he seems to be getting comfortable with Brian Pattie -- and they are both making good efforts -- but still, this is a place where both Montoya and Scott Pruett need to make something happen.

• Crew Chief Corner: Brian Pattie, No. 42 Dodge

David Caraviello: Yeah, you have to wonder how the guy might fare in more reliable equipment and a more stable situation. As for last year, fuel mileage may have played out at the end, but he still drove the heck out of that sucker. He started 32nd, I believe about as far back as any winner at Sonoma, and still went to Victory Lane.

Joe Menzer: You know, let's not even get into that whole stupid fuel-mileage debate. The guy played his hand the best, drove the wheels off when he had to, and won the dang race. End of story. I get sick of guys downplaying victories for others by saying, oh, yeah, well, that was just a fuel-mileage deal. Think Robby would have been giving back the trophy if he had won under the same circumstances?

Dave Rodman: Scottie could be a breakthrough here. He's in the midst of a fantastic Rolex Series season, leading the championship once again, and he's come so close so many times on road courses, it would be great to see him pull it off.

David Caraviello: Pruett is definitely one of those guys who's a threat every time out. Tell me this, Roadman -- will we ever see Reed Sorenson in that 41 car again?

Joe Menzer: As for Reed Sorenson, even though you asked Roadman and not me, he will be out of that car for good sooner rather than later. By the end of the season at the latest, according to all I hear.

Dave Rodman: It was kind of a shock to me when they made the change, because I crave stability -- but it makes sense, considering they are close to falling out of the top 35. They can't risk that; and I'm sure they've made the decision Reed wasn't gonna make the Chase.

David Caraviello: Oh, I think that much is fairly obvious.

Reed Sorenson

Cup Results: Since 2006

Year	No.	W	T-5	T-10	Avg. Fin.
2006	36	0	1	5	23.1
2007	36	0	3	6	24.4
2008	15	0	1	1	28.4

• Pruett in 41 car at Sonoma

Dave Rodman: I think at New Hampshire, Reed will probably start his last chance to remain at the Ganassi stable, but he would have to do some great things. Kind of like the way he started this season. At least, I hope it was this season -- and not last season. If it was last season, no matter what happens, I guess he would need to thank Chip and Felix [Sabates] for giving him so much rope to tie himself up with.

Joe Menzer: See, aren't you glad I answered. Roadman dodged the question. It is good to know, however, that Roadman "craves stability." That I did not know.

David Caraviello: He also craves Cool Ranch Doritos.

Dave Rodman: Never ever ranch anything. Except roping and riding, maybe.

Joe Menzer: Um, wait a minute. I have to take issue here. One fifth-place finish in the Daytona 500 constitutes "a great start to a season?" I don't think so. The next week he finished 37th, and has done nothing much else since.

David Caraviello: That whole Ganassi operation appears to be idling. You have Reed maybe on his way out, Montoya and his revolving crew chiefs, [Dario] Franchitti going nowhere, reports earlier this year of Montoya being at odds with Chip. Morale can't be too high over there, I would think.

Dave Rodman: It would be a great start if you were only three days afterward. Bottom line, consistency has evaded them, unfortunately.

Joe Menzer: Well, Montoya wants to be in equipment that can win. He isn't right now. So I don't blame him for complaining to Chip about it. At least he seems to care about it. Not so sure about Sorenson really giving a, um, darn.

Dave Rodman: Reed cares, trust me.

David Caraviello: Not sure how much more time Juan has on his contract with Chip, but if's he's determined to stay in NASCAR, then the guy needs to start looking around a little bit. Of course, he may be doing that already.

3. Some drivers hinted that NASCAR officials might have looked the other way in the final laps at Michigan when Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed the caution car. Do they have a legitimate gripe?

Joe Menzer: Not really. I understand their immediate frustration with it right after the race, because it was their understanding that you can't pass the pace car during the caution. But according to NASCAR, the rule is only that you must maintain a reasonable speed ... open to their interpretation. And when they warned Junior not to keep doing it, he complied.

It's all up to NASCAR's discretion. And their discretion is, no way we're letting a technicality take a win away from Junior.

David Caraviello: I believe guys are overreacting a bit. They told him to get back behind the caution car, and he did. This isn't Kansas, where Greg Biffle was so low on fuel he dropped to the bottom and actually crossed the line fourth. It's all up to NASCAR's discretion. And their discretion is, no way we're letting a technicality take a win away from Junior.

Joe Menzer: I tell you what, though, when the race first ended ... the scoreboard had Kasey Kahne listed first and Junior all the way back in like ninth.

Dave Rodman: Everything is open to their interpretation. I haven't bothered to look at my rule book -- other people's frustration shouldn't be a reason for me wasting my time.

Joe Menzer: The crowd was going nuts, first because they thought Junior had won and then because they weren't sure. Then after a couple of minutes, the 88 popped back up in the No. 1 position on the board.

David Caraviello: That's right. Rodman can't waste time. Got ridin' and ropin' to get to.

Joe Menzer: There is a country song somewhere in there. A bad one, to be sure, but it's there.

Dave Rodman: Junior didn't pass the pace car to improve his position, or to get better access to pit road. So just get over it, gang. I actually missed him even doing it. In the only clip I saw, he was next to it -- but to me, that didn't matter, because it was irrelevant.

• Video: Watch the final laps from Michigan

Joe Menzer: Seriously, can you imagine what that crowd would have done if they took the win away from Junior? There would have been a Detroit-style riot! Like the one I witnessed from the top of the old Tiger Stadium after the Tigers won the 1984 World Series.

David Caraviello: Michigan International Speedway would be a smoking husk today.

Joe Menzer: What Junior was doing, by his own admission, was standing on the gas a little to surge past the pace car, then cutting off the engine and coasting to save fuel. Pretty smart, in my opinion. No way they're going to take away a win from anyone doing that without warning him first. And so they warned him, and he stopped doing it. End of story.

David Caraviello: Are we convinced, though, that he never would have had enough fuel to win the thing had it stayed green until the end?

Dave Rodman: You mean, the last half-lap? I don't want to waste any brain power on that, either. He had pulled away on the last restart, and he would have had to run out under green to know. That wasn't the way it ended, so end of story. He won.

Joe Menzer: First he said he couldn't have made it back around one more time. But later he said he wasn't so sure, that he might have been able to coax it. We'll never know, though, will we?

David Caraviello: Oh, nobody here is doubting that he won. But the way he pulled onto pit road right after taking the checkers is not too convincing.

Joe Menzer: Hey, he didn't "pull" into pit road, guys. He had to be pushed! Even though he later said he did that only because it made for a better story. It was, after the first 140 laps were pretty much a snooze-fest, a very interesting and compelling finish. No matter how it would have played out, I enjoyed it.

David Caraviello: Hey, watch it, Joe. NASCAR might pull you into a meeting.

Joe Menzer: Yeah, they might rope me into one and ride me into submission.

The opinions expressed are solely of the participants.