Sonoma, Calif. — The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series takes its first road course test of the season at Infineon Raceway this Sunday.

The 1.99-mile Sonoma track has become famous for new faces—the road course aces.

Though the road course specialists have made competition strides, two Cup regulars remain the class of Infineon Raceway: Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, both of whom remain fierce competition for Ford’s drivers.

In 14 appearances, Gordon has finished outside the top 10 only four times—and one of those instances was an 11th-place finish in his first appearance at Sonoma in 1993.

This race will be a special one for Stewart. Stewart will make his 300th Cup start Sunday, at a track he’s conquered twice in his career.

If he wins for a third time at Infineon Raceway, Stewart will have won his 30th career race, pushing his winning percentage to 10 percent—the third-best winning percentage among active drivers. Greg Biffle is close behind, however. He’s in fourth place with 6.5 percent of his starts having resulted in wins.

Also look for No. 60 Ford Fusion driver Boris Said to be a real threat on the road course. Said, who is scheduled to make six starts this season, ranks fifth in the pre-race Driver Rating at 104.3, and has finished in the top-10 in three of the last four races at Infineon Raceway.

NASCAR’s Loop Data ranks Matt Kenseth fourth and Carl Edwards sixth at Infineon. The two Ford Fusion veterans will certainly be on the radar screen this coming weekend.

SELECTED DRIVER HIGHLIGHTS AT INFINEON
GREG BIFFLE (NO. 16 AMERIQUEST FORD FUSION)
• One top-five
• 17.0 average finish
• Average Running Position of 13.1, seventh-best
• Driver Rating of 94.4, seventh-best
• 11th-fastest Green Flag Speed
• 152 Laps in the Top 15, sixth-most
• 52 Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green), third-most

JEFF BURTON (NO. 31 AT&T MOBILITY CHEVROLET)
• Four top-10s
• 20.6 average finish
• Average Running Position of 12.168, sixth-best
• Driver Rating of 93.8, eighth-best
• Sixth-fastest Green Flag Speed
• 189 Laps in the Top 15, fifth-most
• 58 Quality Passes, tied for second-most

KURT BUSCH (NO. 2 MILLER LITE DODGE)
• Three top-fives; one pole
• 16.5 average finish
• Series-best Average Running Position of 4.205
• Series-best Driver Rating of 121.1
• 12 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most
• Second-fastest Green Flag Speed
• Series-high 217 Laps in the Top-15
• 44 Quality Passes, tied for fifth-most

JEFF GORDON (NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET)
• Five wins, nine top-fives, 10 top-10s; five poles
• 9.9 average finish
• Average Running Position of 11.582, fifth-best
• Driver Rating of 107.1, fourth-best
• 29 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
• 159 Laps in the Top 15, seventh-most

MATT KENSETH (NO. 17 DEWALT FORD FUSION)
• 22.0 average finish
• Average Running Position of 14.173, eighth-best
• Driver Rating of 87.1, 10th-best
• 139 Laps in the Top 15, eighth-most
• 38 Quality Passes, tied for eighth-most

TERRY LABONTE (NO. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS TOYOTA)
• Six top fives, eight top-10s
• 18.1 average finish
• Average Running Position of 15.814, 10th-best
• Driver Rating of 91.7, ninth-best
• 111 Green Flag Passes, fifth-most

RYAN NEWMAN (NO. 12 ALLTEL DODGE)
• Two top fives, four top-10s
• 7.8 average finish
• Average Running Position of 5.923, third-best
• Driver Rating of 117.6, third-best
• Fourth-fastest Green Flag Speed
• 215 Laps in the Top 15, second-most
• 44 Quality Passes, tied for fifth-most

BORIS SAID (NO. 60 SOBE NO FEAR FORD FUSION)
• Three top-10s; one pole
• 18.857 average finish
• Average Running Position of 9.132, fourth-best
• Driver Rating of 104.3, fifth-best
• Nine Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most
• Third-fastest Green Flag Speed
• 191 Laps in the Top 15, fourth-most
• 48 Quality Passes, fourth-most

TONY STEWART (NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET)
• Two wins, three top-fives, four top-10s; one pole
• 10.5 average finish
• Average Running Position of 5.455, second-best
• Driver Rating of 119.1, second-best
• Series-high 39 Fastest Laps Run
• Fastest Green Flag Speed
• 207 laps in the Top 15, third-most
• Series-high 67 Quality Passes

AT INFINEON RACEWAY
• There have been 18 NASCAR Nextel Cup races at Infineon Raceway since the first race there in 1989.
• Rusty Wallace won the first NASCAR Nextel Cup Bud Pole.
• Ricky Rudd won the first NASCAR Nextel Cup race.
• There have been 10 different Bud Pole winners; only three have won more than one.
• There have been 10 different race winners; five have more than one victory there.
• Seven race winners have also won Bud Poles.
• The track opened as a 2.52-mile road course and drag strip in '68.
• The first NASCAR race was held in '89.
• The first nine NASCAR Nextel Cup races at Infineon were 300-kilometers. The race switched to a 350 km. format in '98.
• The track was re-configured to 1.949 miles in '98 with the installation of an 890-foot chute between the original Turns 4 and 7.
• The track was reconfigured to 2.0 miles in 2001 and re-measured at 1.99 miles in '02.
• Hendrick Motorsports has won five races, two more than any other car owner.
• Six drivers have competed in all 18 races: Dale Jarrett, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip
• There have been four different Bud Pole winners in the last five races. Jeff Gordon is the only repeat Bud Pole winner there since '02.
• Gordon (five) leads all Bud Pole winners. Rudd has four, including three consecutive ('90-'92).
• There have been consecutive Bud Pole winners three times: Rudd ('90-'92), Gordon ('98-'99 and '04-'05).
• There have been only four different race winners in the last nine races. Gordon (five), Tony Stewart (two), Robby Gordon (one) and Rudd (one).
• Jeff Gordon (five) leads all other drivers in victories at Infineon. Ernie Irvan, Rudd, Stewart and Wallace (two each) are the other multiple race winners.
• Jeff Gordon is the all-time leader in NASCAR Nextel Cup road course victories with nine. Five of Gordon’s road course victories have occurred at Infineon. He has three more victories than any other driver at the Napa Valley track. Gordon also heads the all-time Bud Pole winners list for Infineon with five and has led the most laps there (437).
• Five of 18 Infineon races have been won by the Bud Pole winner, including three times by Jeff Gordon. His victory from the Bud Pole in '04 is the most recent.
• The '91 race was won from 13th by Davey Allison—the deepest in the field that a race winner ever started.
• Jeff Gordon won three consecutive Infineon races ('98-'00), the only consecutive wins streak in Infineon history.
• There have been 111 NASCAR Nextel Cup races in California.
• Twenty-four California drivers have won a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, 11 have won a NASCAR Busch race and seven have won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck race.
• Six have won both a Nextel Cup and NASCAR Busch race (Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Irvan, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears). Only Harvick has won in all three national series.

Contributed by NASCAR News Bureau