The last two weeks have seen the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races determined by pit strategy and fuel mileage. With the races coming down to the wire on fuel, crew chiefs have been playing a major role over the last few weeks and Sunday’s race in Sonoma will be no different.

One of only two road courses on the Cup Series schedule, crew chiefs have to take extra steps in preparation for the demands of navigating the hilly terrain of northern California, the twists and turns to both the left and right, drivers shifting multiple times a lap and the near certainty that pit strategy will help determine the winner of the race.

“The biggest thing with road course racing now is making sure to maintain the brakes and your fuel mileage,” Tony Gibson, crew chief of the No. 39 Chevrolet driven by Ryan Newman explained. “Some guys will pit as soon as they can make it the entire race so that, when it all cycles around, they will be out front. So fuel mileage is critical. You just want to have the best strategy when it comes down to it. The car has to handle all the turns well, but we’ve seen that’s just not as important as the fuel mileage.”

“It’s totally pit strategy,” Lance McGrew of Hendrick Motorsports added. “It’s really not about the speed of the car at all -- it’s being able to put yourself in position to be at the front at the end of the race. Whether that’s  pitting way before you can make it on fuel and praying for cautions and just staying out, or happening to hit the cautions just right where it works out great. It’s definitely more of a chess match than any place we go.”

“Infineon is usually a two-stop race and fuel-mileage is a big factor in the outcome of the race,” Greg Biffle’s crew chief Greg Erwin pointed out. “We had a good car there last year and we’ve built a new one for this week that we believe will be even better.  We had a successful test with it at Road Atlanta and we think this new chassis is a little better than what we ran last year. Qualifying is extremely important.  We need to qualify well, stay up front and use fuel mileage to our advantage and we should have a good race.”

In addition for concentrating on fuel mileage and pit strategy, crew chiefs have to work with their drivers prior to the race weekend in order to ensure the driver can get through the gearbox without tearing anything up. Not everyone in the Cup garage is an expert road racer and, as a result, the majority of teams head to either Road Atlanta or Virginia International Raceway in the weeks leading up to the race to test their skills.

“I don't know a lot about what the car needs to be like [on the road courses], so I lean a lot on my teammate Kevin Harvick for some guidance out there,” Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet admitted. “We go to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) to get acclimated with going through the gearbox and braking before we head west.”

“We tested [VIR] last month, and we got some good information and ideas for setting up the car at Sonoma,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained. “That will be especially helpful since Lance (McGrew) is now calling the shots, and he has never really run at a road course with us. It’ll be good for him to have some statistics, some background information on how we did at VIR to look at for Sonoma. And hopefully that will put us closer to being on the same page because this will be a tough weekend. Sonoma is one of the toughest tracks we face.”

While some in the stands may feel as if road courses do not belong in NASCAR, these events challenge the driver, crew chief and team just as much, if not more, than any other weekend. The preparation that goes into these events needs to be spot on otherwise it will be a long day of chasing the field. In addition, the crew chief needs to get the job done in the planning stages in order to be in contention at the end with enough fuel to last.

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