Each year in June a doorway into NASCAR racing that at the same time, is both inviting, intriguing and beguiling opens at Infineon Raceway.

The 1.99-mile road course set in the rolling hills of Napa Valley wine country outside Sonoma, Calif., has been used numerous times by drivers well-versed in road racing; though possessing varying degrees of savvy of stock cars, to make their NASCAR debuts in random outings.

Very seldom, if ever, have they been successful. But if the words of a number of NASCAR veterans can be taken to heart, that might change this weekend when, for the first time in its history, NASCAR stages road races for its top-two series, at two different venues, on the same weekend.

The Cup Series runs its 22nd annual Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon on Sunday, while the Nationwide Series on Saturday has its inaugural Bucyrus 200 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. -- a 4.048-mile venue somewhat similar to Infineon in topographical style, though in an expanded version at more than twice the length.

At each venue, no less than a pair of NASCAR national series newcomers will attempt to make their debuts. And according to those in the know, don't be surprised if one of them makes a breakthrough.

Mattias Ekstrom took some laps at VIR to get himself ready for his Cup debut at Infineon.

A Swede "Point"

For the past decade Infineon Raceway, formerly and still known to a lot of old-timers as Sears Point, has been a tough location for road racers trying to make an inroad into stock cars. But it hasn't stopped them from trying.

This weekend there are 12 men with strong road racing backgrounds on the entry list. Seven of them are series regulars. Of the five others, two international stars are making their debuts.

Given the records of Mattias Ekstrom, a Swede who is a two-time German Touring Car (DTM) champion, and multiple open-wheel and GT champion Jan Magnussen from Denmark, this could be the most significant pair of NASCAR outsiders' road racing debuts in the modern era.

It's a big enough deal in itself, that each of them is the first man from their respective country to race in NASCAR.

Ekstrom, whose DTM Audi is sponsored by Red Bull, with whom he has a nine-year history while only finishing outside the DTM's top five twice in that time, steps into Red Bull Racing's No. 83 Toyota while its regular driver, 2009 Infineon pole winner Brian Vickers continues to recover from a blood disorder.

Mattias Ekstrom

“

Mattias is just a wild man -- he really loves racing. When I met him at the Race of Champions in London, first thing, he just came over and he was talking, 'NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR.' I hope that he gets more than one race, I hope he can go race some other stuff because I look at him and I say, 'Man, there's a guy who for sure can do it.'

”

-- CARL EDWARDS

Magnussen, who has a long U.S. sports car legacy as a GM factory Corvette pilot, will be in Phoenix Racing's No. 09 Chevrolet, which has been driven this season by a variety of drivers.

No less a NASCAR-veteran trio as four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, 2007 [Nationwide] Series champ Carl Edwards and Boris Said, a champion road racer who most recently has strenuously attempted to transition into NASCAR, have noticed what the pair's attempts mean -- to the men themselves, fans and their competitors.

Both Johnson and Edwards met Ekstrom, 31, in the past five years competing in the end-of-season Race of Champions -- a head-to-head all-star battle in a variety of race cars that Ekstrom won for the third time in 2009, when neither Johnson nor Edwards competed.

"Hopefully they do a little homework and realize how much of a stud he is, in the series he's been racing in," Johnson said of Ekstrom. "I know he's got a lot to learn with our cars and the sport -- and I'm sure some guys will take advantage of him on-track and shove him out of the way, that kind of thing.

"But I'm happy to see him get an opportunity. He's got a great personality and I think that once people get to know him a bit, they'll realize he's a lot of fun."

Leave it to Edwards, one of the biggest racing aficionados in the Cup garage, to put Ekstrom's arrival in perfect perspective -- even several days before it was confirmed the Swede would compete.

"That'll be cool," Edwards said. "Mattias is just a wild man -- he really loves racing. When I met him at the Race of Champions in London, first thing, he just came over and he was talking, 'NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR.'

"I could see it in his eyes -- he really, really loves this style of racing and he wants to be a part of it and man, he's fast, you know? He's a very, very good race car driver, so I'm hoping he's not as fast as he could be [laughing], because it'd be tough to race against him.

"But I think the fans are gonna enjoy him because he's just a fun guy."

As nervous as he was about Ekstrom's potential, Edwards proved his real racer's mettle when he expressed his hope for Ekstrom's NASCAR future.

"I hope that he gets more than one race, I hope he can go race some other stuff because I look at him and I say, 'Man, there's a guy who for sure can do it,'" Edwards said. "But there are a lot of little things you have to pick up -- a lot of mistakes you can make that aren't tied to how fast you're going: Pit stops and locking-up tires and things like that. Hopefully he won't fall into those little pitfalls."

Edwards just laughed when he was asked if Ekstrom had asked for any tips.

"I might wait until after the first practice," Edwards said slowly, through a big grin. "He might be super-fast."

Boris Said thinks Jan Magnussen and his experience on road courses will net him a top-five finish at Infineon.

"Daned" if you do

Said, who in the past decade has been the road racers' standard bearer in NASCAR, both in qualifying and races at Infineon; indicated the consistently quick Dane Magnussen, 36, might be the man who, more than anyone who's competed in a Cup road race in the past 10 years, might be able to break the evil skein that's afflicted road course specialists at Infineon and Watkins Glen.

And Said has "hands-on knowledge" of how good Magnussen can be, having raced against him in a number of sports car events. A bad outcome for Corvette Racing in last weekend's 24 hours of Le Mans means nothing this weekend, in Said's opinion.

“

It's no secret that NASCAR has been a goal of mine, and I'm very appreciative of the opportunity Phoenix Racing is providing. I've had the chance to test for Hendrick Motorsports, so I'm comfortable in the Cup cars and understand what to expect. I'm quite familiar with the race track and confident in my ability to compete at a high level. It will be an exciting weekend.

”

-- JAN MAGNUSSEN

"I know who [Ekstrom] is and I've followed his career," Said said. "But Magnussen is gonna be a force, too, to be honest with you. He's going to surprise a lot of people. He's gonna be a top-five guy for sure, I think."

No one, including Said himself -- with the exception of one third-place by Scott Pruett in 2004 -- has been able to do it in the past 10 years. So why now -- why Magnussen?

"One thing is, he has a lot of experience at that track, in a lot of different kinds of cars," Said said. "Two, is he's one of the best racers that's ever stepped in a car. When he raced [British] Formula 3 back in [1994], he beat Ayrton Senna's record when he won, like, [14 of 18] races.

"And he's been testing for Hendrick [Motorsports] all year, so he's got a lot of seat time in the car. I think he'll be really, really good."

And that could be the difference, according to Said. The most interesting aspect of the deal will be to see if Magnussen's presence will lift up Hendrick's four drivers' performance. Two weeks ago the five men were all at a test session at Carolina Motorsports Park, a road course in Kershaw, S.C., often used by NASCAR teams.

For his part, Phoenix Racing owner James Finch, who has a history of cooperation with Hendrick Motorsports that includes using Hendrick cars and a Hendrick engine deal, and Magnussen are nearly beside themselves with anticipation.

"We're extremely excited to have a road racer of this caliber available to drive for us at Sonoma," Finch said. "Jan has tested Cup cars in the past, and his résumé speaks for itself. He'll give us an opportunity to not only qualify well, but run up front and compete."

So will backing from HendrickCars.com, part of Hendrick Motorsports' owner Rick Hendrick's sizable automotive empire, which has a large presence in California. A HMS spokesman said HendrickCars.com planned to have a large group of guests at Infineon, thus the sponsorship of the 09.

"It's no secret that NASCAR has been a goal of mine, and I'm very appreciative of the opportunity Phoenix Racing is providing," Magnussen said. "Through my relationship with GM, I've had the chance to test for Hendrick Motorsports, so I'm comfortable in the Cup cars and understand what to expect.

"I'm quite familiar with the race track and confident in my ability to compete at a high level. It will be an exciting weekend, and I look forward to the entire experience."

As the road turns

Of the two road courses the Cup Series competes at, Infineon is considered to be tougher than Watkins Glen, and according to Said, that's where the latest road course interlopers' challenge begins.

"I think Ekstrom's gonna be good, but he's only had a day of testing and he's never seen [Infineon]," Said said. "I think he's a really good driver, but he's in the same position a lot of other guys have been in, coming to Cup cars for the first time.

"He's got an uphill battle."

Ekstrom is playing with a double-edged sword, as it were, as he's entered the K&N Filters West Series race that's a companion to the Toyota/Save Mart 350, along with fellow Cup entrants Said and David Gilliland. According to Said, that may also be his toughest hurdle.

"My personal opinion is his biggest challenge will be going from qualifying that [West] car to jumping in and doing one lap in the Cup car in qualifying -- that's gonna be tough," Said said. "I do it, and it bugs me [laughing] because it's hard to go up the hill [to Turn 1] that first time in a Cup car, that drives like golf versus tennis.

"It's a night-and-day difference, so you've really got to be tip-toeing on your qualifying lap. I think for [Ekstrom] it's good because he's never seen the track, but it's gonna hurt him for qualifying. But the good news is, he's in the top 35 so it doesn't matter if he spins out."

As Said noted, the key difference between Ekstrom, who's running both races and Magnussen, who's concentrating on the Cup race, is that Ekstrom's locked-into the field while Magnussen is not.

It doesn't get any better for either man in the race, as 43 Cup cars will be all over the fast, but far from wide-open layout that in many -- if not most -- places is one-groove.

"[Infineon] is a lot harder than Watkins Glen, because it's such a short track and you can run your tires off so easy [at Infineon] because you just can't put the power down on the ground," Said said. "The [Cup] cars are hard to drive there because of that.

"After qualifying [Ekstrom's] next-biggest challenge is he's never raced with 43 cars -- they have 16 or 17 cars [in German Touring Cars] and eight or 10 really good ones. But the cars he does race against, it's fierce, close racing -- fender-to-fender -- and they're the most beautiful race cars in the world. So I think he'll do OK racing because he knows how to race and he knows how to drive a [closed-cockpit] sports car."

At more than four miles in length, Road America becomes the largest track in NASCAR.

On the "Road" again

Said did NASCAR's exploratory initial test at Road America earlier this season and is sorry he's tied up at Infineon. Later this season, Said plans to do other NASCAR road course events at both Watkins Glen and Montreal.

"That track [Road America] is great for those [Nationwide] cars -- I wish we could race Cup cars there, because that would be an awesome race," Said said. "The only downside for that track is gonna be for the TV coverage, because there's a lot of gravel -- a lot of sand traps around the track -- so if somebody wheel-hops it and goes off and gets stuck, there's gonna be a yellow because you're gonna have to go pull them out.

"It was like Watkins Glen a long time ago when they had sand everywhere, while now they have pavement. If [Road America's runoff areas] were pavement, I think they could run a lot of green flag laps in a row, but I don't think they'll have many green laps in a row because of that -- but I think the racing's gonna be real good."

And part of the intrigue at Road America -- as it is at Sonoma -- is the diversity of this field, which has only 43 entries -- a full field -- where Infineon has 46 cars vying for 43 spots.

There are six drivers making their series debuts at Road America, including two significant road racing specialists: Californian Patrick Long and Australian Owen Kelly.

Long has been a Porsche factory driver in a variety of GT cars for years, and knocked Cup regular Joey Logano aside last year at Infineon in an attempt to win the K&N West race. Long's a definite threat as he also led the Watkins Glen East Series race on the final lap before being passed in the last corner.

Long's edge at Road America might be car owner Eddie D'Hondt, who has a fully-funded, Toyota road race car that was built as a twin to a similar vehicle Kyle Busch drove to second in the Watkins Glen Nationwide race for D'Hondt in 2008.

• Virtual Lap around Road America

"This kid [Long] is pretty aggressive," D'Hondt said. "I doubt he'll let anybody push him around and he's got the most laps around this track of about anybody entered in the race [so] we're looking for a nice run."

In all, 19 non-series regulars are on the list, including 15 men with significant road racing backgrounds -- including Magnussen's former Corvette Racing teammate, former Watkins Glen series winner Ron Fellows.

Said indicated it would be "the usual suspects" at the front of the field at Road America. But he gave a nod to one of the six debutees in Wisconsin, ironically from the same offshore island, Tasmania, as two-time Nationwide road course winner Marcos Ambrose, who'll be racing at Infineon this weekend.

"Ron Fellows will be good, I think Colin Braun will shine and I think Owen Kelly will be the 'who's this guy?' surprise," Said said of the 33-year-old Aussie that he competed with as a teammate a couple years ago in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. "He was Dale [Earnhardt] Jr.'s late model guy that he brought over from Australia, and I would fully expect him to run in the top five, even though he's never been in [a Nationwide car]."

Kelly won races for Earnhardt's JR Motorsports late model operation, and is eagerly anticipating this event. Baker Curb Racing, which will field its No. 27 Ford for Kelly, is in a sponsorship crisis, but that's slowed neither of its two cars, which are both in the top 20 in the Nationwide owners' standings.

"It's something that I've been working on for a long, long time and I've been a huge NASCAR fan since I was probably 10 years old," Kelly said. "So it's certainly going to be a pretty cool day to be able to start my first NASCAR race, and it will be even better if we can get a good result."

Before he came to the U.S., Kelly, who has several V8 Supercar rounds to contest later this season back home, won 13 races in the Fujitsu V8 Series, reportedly the Australian equivalent of the Nationwide Series, when compared to V8 Supercars.

"The place where I can make the biggest impact in the category is on a road course," Kelly said. "As a rookie, it's the most sensible place for me to try and make a big impact straight up.

"So I definitely think that I'll have a decent shot. If I went into an oval race, I'd be at something of a disadvantage compared to the experienced guys, but I think on a road course it puts me on a more level playing field with the others, not having driven these cars.

"That's definitely going to work in my favor and I think that realistically, if we can come out of there with a top 10 and a straight car that will be a great result."

At Road America, with a Cup road race on the same weekend and only three two-timers traveling between California and Wisconsin -- although one of them, Paul Menard, won a NASCAR Touring Division super late model race at Road America in 2001 -- it's quite likely a "road-schooled" driver will win.

And that's totally the opposite of what's been the case in Cup's road races.

In 10 Cup starts at Infineon, Boris Said has four top-10s and a pole.

A tough row to hoe

Since Infineon ran its first Cup Series race in 1989, "road course ringers," as the crossover drivers are fondly known, have had a general lack of results.

"It just proves how good [the Cup regulars] are as road racers," Said said. "[The ringers] struggle because yeah, they're some of the best sports car racers in the world -- but now they're going against some of the best racers in the world -- period.

"The proof of that is when Jeff Gordon got in that Formula 1 car [at Indianapolis in 2003] and did something that no one has ever been able to do -- run within a second of Juan Pablo [Montoya, now a Cup regular who won at Infineon in 2007 as a Cup rookie].

"Their [Formula 1] test drivers drive those things and drive those things and never get within three seconds of their regular drivers, and [Gordon] gets in there, not even knowing what he's doing or having been in anything like that and runs within a second of him, so [Ekstrom] is coming in and driving with [42] of the best drivers in the world and he's just not used to that level of competition.

"But I still believe that he'll do a good job. If I had to guess, he'll do a good job, but I still think Jan Magnussen is gonna be the surprise of the weekend."

If either Magnussen or Ekstrom achieves a top-10 finish or, as Said predicted for Magnussen, a top-five, it would be somewhat earth-shattering.

In the 10 previous Infineon races, the top-finishing road course ringer has been in the top 10 only five times, with Pruett's third-place in 2004 the only top-five. Said, who won the only pole position by a ringer in the past 10 years, in 2003, collaborated with Pruett in 2004 to ensure the best year for road racers, as Said tied a decade-best sixth-place finish.

Considering the caliber of the road racers involved, it's surprising that only three times in the past 10 years has there been as many as two road racers in the top 10. Fellows and former SCCA Trans-Am champion Brian Simo were eighth and 10th, respectively, in 2005, and Said and Fellows were sixth and seventh, respectively, in 2003.

Said bemoaned the fact he'd have a hard time excelling this year, as he gets back into the No. 26 Latitude 43 Ford that he was a crucial part of getting through the first few races of the season in, before owner Bill Jenkins replaced him with oval veteran David Stremme.

The team has an ex-Roush Fenway road course car and Said has an almost step-son-like relationship with owner Jack Roush. But there are some issues.

"We've done absolutely zero testing and zero development, so I definitely have an uphill battle," Said said. "So I'm just going to go there and try to qualify, get in the show, not do anything crazy in qualifying and then hopefully can run in the top 10 is my realistic goal.

"We have a Roush road course car. The only problem is, [Roush Fenway] has come up with a new [front] clip and some other stuff and we don't have that. They didn't have the money or the manpower to do it, so we're running last year's stuff, which isn't terrible, but then we can't share the setups like we normally would, because it doesn't translate"

Said has averaged an eighth-place qualifying position the past eight years, five of those in Fords. And he'll once again have to make the adjustment from the West car to his go-or-go-home qualifying lap.

"I'm just happy I'm going to be there, so I'm not complaining," Said said. "But [qualifying both cars] for me is a big challenge, and I hate it. I remember one year I just didn't qualify [the West car] --- I went from practicing the Cup car to qualifying it, and was way better.

"Last year when I had to qualify the K&N car and get right into [the Cup car] I just really had to tiptoe through the first few corners, so I didn't over-drive it [before qualifying ninth] because it's so different. If you had a full warm-up lap like you do at Watkins Glen, it wouldn't be any big deal; but at Infineon you only get those two or three corners, so it's really tough."

As history has proven it is.