Today at 3:00 p.m. ET NASCAR action will get underway from Sonoma Raceway, where A.J. Allmendinger will be leading the pack atop the pole in a race that can be live streamed free by clicking this link.
Allmendinger is a road-course wizard, but he will have to face a historically great road-racer in his final trip around this particular track in Jeff Gordon. Sonoma happens to be his home track as well, so the stakes are high.
Carl Edwards is a threat as well, but he described this track as difficult for any driver and one that requires a few breaks for a victory.
"It's such a tough race to get everything right," Edwards said. "It's not always the fastest car [that] wins, it's the guy with the right strategy, with a little bit of luck, the cautions have to fall his way plus you have to be fast.
"It's a tough race, but there's nothing saying we couldn't win this one and win it the next few years. Those stats, they don't mean anything once the green flag drops."
Allmendinger, the favorite, thinks that having the fastest car is paramount, but agreed that some luck is necessary.
"I wouldn't say luck [wins here], but the way yellows fall and the way strategy plays out, it can really shuffle the race," Allmendinger said.
"Watkins Glen, the race is kind of a flow of, 'OK, we can do it in two or three stops,' but the tires aren't as important. They don't wear out as much. So, it's a typical flow. You see the same cars up front throughout the course of a race. Here, a yellow at the wrong time or if you get a guy that gets tires when [someone else] doesn't, it can change the whole course of the race."
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