Next Up: Qualifying

At 7 ET tonight, qualifying will take place for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. As you read in the last post, practice has just come to an end and drivers are looking towards having a good lap.

Qualifying at the Infineon Raceway is very important, in my opinion. It isn't that easy to pass on road-courses, and track position is a very key component of winning a race. Sure, getting the pole won't guarantee a driver a top ten finish, but it will help a lot.

Plus, drivers don't want to start with a ton of cars ahead of them, as spinning is very common at road-courses. Being near the front would obviously drastically decrease the chance of getting caught up in a wreck because of drivers not being able to handle their cars.

You should see the experienced road-course drivers(Gordon, Harvick, Stewart, specialists) get the top spots in qualifying, but it wouldn't be unexpected if someone else got up at the top of the board.