Fuel for thought: Mileage will matter at Infineon

Two weeks ago, the Cup Series race at Pocono was decided on fuel mileage. So was last week's race at Michigan.

Can it happen again Sunday, in the series' first road-course race of the season, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, Calif.?

"I think it's almost a given that fuel will be an issue to some degree at Infineon Raceway based on the nature of road-course racing," said Mark Martin, who won last week, despite running out of gas coming off Turn 4 of the final lap. "We've had two races in a row, and now we go to Infineon Raceway where everyone expects it to be some type of factor."

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This will be Martin's first race at Infineon in three years. He ran part time in 2007 and 2008, skipping Infineon and the series' other road race at Watkins Glen.

"My not being out there isn't really an issue," he said. "At the end of the day it all comes down to the car and talent and not so much practice, so I've had a couple races out there, and it won't have an impact on our racing on Sunday."

Martin has the talent. In 18 starts at Infineon, he has 13 top-10s, including one win among seven top-fives.

Denny Hamlin lacks Martin's experience at Infineon -- one top-10 in three starts -- but not the insight on what it will take to win Sunday.

"We know fuel mileage be a huge factor here," Hamlin said. "We ran at Virginia International Raceway last week and had a good test. We spent a lot of time on handling, but we spent some time on fuel mileage also, and we hope that translates to this weekend as well as it did last weekend at Michigan."

Hamlin finished third last week for his first top-10 in seven races. He finished two spots ahead of Greg Biffle, who held the lead until he ran out gas on the backstretch of the final lap.

"Infineon is usually a two-stop race, and fuel mileage is a big factor in the outcome of the race," said Greg Erwin, Biffle's crew chief. "Qualifying is extremely important. We need to qualify well, stay up front and use fuel mileage to our advantage and we should have a good race."

Biffle has made eight starts at Infineon and has top-15 finishes in the last seven, including top-five finishes in 2006 and 2007. His only poor finish came in 2003, his rookie season. He was scored 37th, failing to finish the race because ... he ran out of gas.

FIVE TO WATCH

Stewart

Tony Stewart, No. 14: Stewart's two wins at Infineon trail only Jeff Gordon's five. The last time Stewart won at Infineon, 2005, he went on to win his second Cup championship.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24: Gordon has a series-record nine road-course wins. He was third last year at Infineon, and two of his wins have come in the past five years. He's always a threat on a road course.

Kyle Busch, No. 18: Busch dominated last year, leading 78 laps, including the final 42. Equally impressive, Busch started 30th on the grid. Only Juan Montoya in 2007 won from starting deeper in the field (32nd). Seven weeks later Busch won at Watkins Glen.

Juan Montoya, No. 42: Earlier this week Montoya declared he was in the hunt for a top-five as he works his way toward a spot in the Chase. He is 14th in the standings, 43 points behind No. 12 Jeff Burton. In two races at Infineon, Montoya has a win and a sixth-place finish.

Marcos Ambrose, No. 47: Ambrose's background is on road courses. His only NASACAR win came last year in a Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen. He might have won the year before on the road course in Montreal if not for a scrap at the end with Robby Gordon. Ambrose had a good run going at Infineon last year after qualifying seventh, but transmission trouble ended his day after 83 laps.

TRACK CHATTER

Newman

Ryan Newman: "I enjoy hustling the race car around the track, and Infineon's a good road course. Personally, I enjoy Watkins Glen a bit more, but I enjoy them both, and I look forward to racing out there. ... It's a big track-position game, and if you qualify well, you have a chance to race well. If you don't, your challenge will be to make a bunch of passes and race hard all day."

Greg Biffle: "I really do like road-course racing. I wouldn't mind if we had one or two more road courses on the schedule just to break up the season a little. We had a really good test at Road Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and I'm pretty excited to get that car out to Infineon."

Marcos Ambrose: "There is such an advantage about being in that front half of the field, in the front third and controlling your own destiny. Being around guys that aren't so desperate to come forward; quite often by running the car hard you can keep yourself out of trouble."