Road Course Ringers at Infineon Does Hiring a Road Course ‘Ringer’ Guarantee a Top-10 at Infineon? Huntersville, N.C. (June 17, 2008) - Statistically, no. There have been 19 races at the Infineon Raceway since 1989. Road course ‘ringers’ (drivers hired for road course races only) have finished in the top-10 only 6.3% of the time and have finished in the top-five only 1.5% of the time at Infineon. Irv Hoer was the first non-Cup regular to crack a top-10 with an eighth-place finish in 1990. Since that time Robby Gordon, during his time as a non-Cup regular, recorded finishes of ninth and second. That second-place finish is the highest of non-Cup regulars who have completed at Infineon. Boris Said has the most top-10 finishes of non-Cup regulars at Infineon. He has finished ninth or higher in the last four of five races at Sonoma. The only drivers to crack the top five are Gordon (second) Scott Pruitt (third) and Terry Labonte, not competing full-time in 2006, (third). Bobby Labonte, Driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: “It goes to show that it’s not easy for these guys to come in, without a lot of time in the cars or practice, and run well. A guy like Boris (Said), he’s been in the Cup cars at different tracks besides Infineon and Watkins Glen. He knows the characteristics of these cars. A guy who’s coming in for a one-off race, no, it’s not that easy. They have a lot of road racing skill, maybe better than most of us, but they don’t have that time with the cars. “Robby Gordon and Juan Montoya are the best now. They have had so much time on road courses, but also have had a lot of seat time in these Cup cars. That makes a huge difference. It’s going to be tough for any ’ringer’ to come in and win without some time in these cars.”