Toyota/Save Mart 350

STAT OF THE WEEK

One and done: Since 2005, there have been seven different winners at Sonoma.

LAST YEAR'S RACE

RECENT WINNERS

ALSO THIS WEEKEND:

Nationwide Series
Sargento 200, Road America, Sat. 3:51 p.m.

EXPERT STANDINGS

YAHOO! SPORTS FANTASY AUTO RACING

Check your team | Expert picks
Sonoma preview (PDF)

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Sonoma for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Kurt Busch is the defending race winner.

Kasey Kahne: Every time the Cup Series heads to a road course, there's a bunch of talk about the road-course specialists. But here's the thing: rarely do they win. Of the so-called "ringers," only Montoya has gotten to victory lane at Sonoma. That's why I'm picking Kahne, a winner at Sonoma in 2009 when he wasn't in nearly as good of equipment as he is now. He wasn't a good road racer early in his career, but he is now. – Jay Hart

Marcos Ambrose: I'm going with Marcos Ambrose, and not just because he's the trendy road-course pick. (All right, that's a factor.) He's running well all over the series now, and he'll have a decided advantage over at least half the field on Sunday, the drivers who just want to get this right-turn silliness over with. With a win, he could vault himself into wild-card contention. – Jay Busbee

Juan Pablo Montoya: How about another surprise wild-card contender? Montoya is hanging around the top 20 and can put himself in (legitimate) wild-card discussion with a win on Sunday. JPM has won at Sonoma before and won at Watkins Glen in 2010. EGR hasn't been great on ovals, but Montoya's one of the best road racers around and will prove it at Sonoma. – Nick Bromberg

• Could this weekend be a referendum on Montoya? Before the season, Chip Ganassi blasted his teams' "pathetic" performance, and this year, they've been … even more pathetic. This is one of the weekends that Montoya, like Ambrose, should have an advantage. If JPM is unable to make noise here, he could find his seat warming up faster than a certain jet dryer's. – Jay Busbee

• Will we see any new grudges? We saw Greg Biffle and Boris Said get mad at each other last year, plus Brian Vickers take out Tony Stewart. With double-file restarts, road courses are the new short tracks, and look for some angry drivers after the checkered flag falls. – Nick Bromberg

• The Chase is going to be the hot topic at Sonoma, not just because Ambrose or Montoya could grab a win and jump in the hunt, but also because some drivers hanging on to spots in the top 10 could suddenly find themselves out of a guaranteed spot. Sonoma won't decide who makes the Chase, rather it will only muddy the picture even more than it already is. – Jay Hart

"It's definitely a place I feel like we've got the potential to win, even before we make a single lap. … I don't know that there's a secret to it, necessarily. I think a lot of it is that when we get to a road course, we look forward to being there. There are some drivers that don't look forward to the road course races and we're one of those teams that actually look forward to it." – Tony Stewart