Road course ringer

Term origin

"Ringer" is a slang term commonly used in sports to describe a particularly good competitor who is brought in to win in a specific match as opposed to competing in the entire schedule. It can also be used to describe a professional athlete who competes in amateur sports; a softball team might have a "ringer" who used to play minor or major league ball. The term does not relate directly to racing and does not refer to the shape of the race course.

Drivers

A road course ringer is often brought in when either the normal driver is inexperienced at road courses, or if the driver is having a poor season and the team needs an excellent qualifying run to qualify for the race. Sprint Cup Series teams who are near the bottom of the top 35 in owner points hire a ringer or adept former competitor like Terry Labonte to ensure that they remain in top 35 to keep a guaranteed starting spot in future races. It is not unusual that a lower level team's best finish would be at a road course because of the use of a road course expert. Some full-time drivers are adept at racing on road courses, but they are not considered road course ringers. Road course ringers have competed in championships which race primarily road courses, frequently in IndyCar or sports car racing series such as ALMS or Grand Am.

I think a handful of guys, or 10 guys, 12 guys that really like going to the Glen and like going to Sonoma and look forward to those races. Then there's probably half the field that can take it or leave it. Then there's a quarter of the field that would be fine if we didn't go.

Notable road course ringers

Mark Donohue

Ron Fellows

Dan Gurney

Tommy Kendall

Scott Pruett (although he ran the 2000 season full-time, and took wins and poles in open-wheel oval track racing)

Jacques Villeneuve (attempted the full Sprint Cup Series season in 2008 with Bill Davis Racing)

Boris Said (although he does compete on a part-time NASCAR schedule)

Brian Simo

Max Papis (has run full seasons in the Cup and Truck Series; currently a driver coach at RCR)

Alex Tagliani (has run on ovals in the Canadian Tire Series and IndyCar)

Mattias Ekström

Andrew Ranger (runs full-time in the mostly-oval Canadian Tire Series)

Tomy Drissi

Kenny Habul

Johnny O'Connell

Alex Kennedy (has run ovals in Sprint Cup Series)

Justin Marks (has run oval races in the Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series and attempted the Daytona 500 in 2015)

Andy Lally (raced full-time in the Sprint Cup Series in 2011)

Lawson Aschenbach

Billy Johnson

Kevin O'Connell

Nelson Piquet Jr. (has raced full-time in Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series)

Chris Cook

Tony Ave (raced in 2004 and 2009 Watkins Glen races, his best finish being 31st at the Glen in 2004)

Patrick Long

Andy Pilgrim

Jan Magnussen

Walt Hansgen

Full-time drivers

This is a list of regular NASCAR drivers who have shown particular prowess on road courses, though several of these drivers were full-time road course drivers before transitioning to stock car oval racing.

Jeff Gordon (9 wins 6 consecutive 1997–2000, 19 top five, 26 top ten, 8 poles out of 42 starts)

Tony Stewart (8 wins, 5 second place, 13 top five, 20 top ten, 2 poles, in 23 starts)

Mark Martin (4 wins and 19 top five finishes out of 41 starts as of December 2010)

Robby Gordon (has won at both Infineon and Watkins Glen since becoming full-time, winning at both tracks in 2003, second at Infineon in 2010)

Terry Labonte (has driven as a ringer after his semi-retirement in 2006)

Juan Pablo Montoya (qualified for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, won at Sonoma in 2007 and Watkins Glen in 2010)

Marcos Ambrose (two-time V8 Supercars touring car champion, two-time Watkins Glen winner and 5 Nationwide wins, all at road courses)

Martin Truex Jr (winner at Sonoma in 2013, 3 top 5, 5 top 10 and 7 top 20 finishes in Watkins Glen out of 9 starts)

Michael McDowell (runs most road courses in Nationwide Series; full-time driver in Cup)

David Gilliland (full-time since 2007; finished second at Infineon in 2008 with Yates Racing)

Kurt Busch (1 win at Infineon 2011, 2013 and 2nd at Watkins Glen 2010, 7 top five, 11 top ten, 2 poles out of 26 starts)

Kyle Busch (3 wins, swept races in 2008, 5 top five, 10 top ten, 2 poles out of 18 starts)

A. J. Allmendinger (1 Sprint Cup win and 2 Nationwide wins, all at road courses; won the 2014 Cheez-It 355 at The Glen to earn a Chase berth)

Jerry Nadeau (nearly won at Sonoma in 2002 for Petty Enterprises before a mechanical failure)

Casey Mears

Cole Whitt

Carlos Contreras

Josh Wise

Scott Speed

Wins

Dan Gurney won 5 NASCAR races as a ringer, while also succeeding in Formula One. The last win by a road course ringer in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race was by Mark Donohue in 1973 in a Penske Racing AMC Matador in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside.

Current ringers Fellows, Said, and Pruett had combined for 13 Top 10 finishes in their 35 career road course starts (as of 2007). Said has the only two poles by a road course ringer, but only one was in a road course race. Said qualified on the pole for the 2003 Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Sears Point Raceway and almost won the pole for the 2007 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, when rain cancelled the conclusion of the trials while Said was on the pole. Due to Said not being in the top 43 in points, which is how NASCAR determines the starting lineup in the event rain washes out qualifying, he wound up not making the field and missed the race. Boris Said later won a Nationwide Series race in Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec.

Ron Fellows has won the most races by road ringers, winning in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series mostly at Watkins Glen and once in Montreal. He almost won 3 Cup series races, finishing second at the Glen in 1999 & 2004, and dominating at Sonoma in 2003.

Often, the disadvantage of having the NASCAR race car in itself, with its heavier car, narrower tire, smaller (compared to premium road-racing cars) brakes, (especially with inexperienced drivers) pit stops, and most often longer races (all NASCAR road course races are at least 200 miles/322 kilometers or longer) have hurt the "ringers".

Decline in the Cup Series

In the late 2000s, the "ringer" has steadily disappeared from the Sprint Cup Series. Factors contributing to this trend are:

The Chase for the Sprint Cup has made it counterproductive for teams to sacrifice the driver points of their full-time drivers in exchange for a possible win by a road course specialist.

Because of this, full-time drivers have been forced to become more proficient on road courses, which in turn means that the average NASCAR driver today is a much better road course driver than in the recent past.

The decline of "ringers" was dramatically illustrated at the 2009 Watkins Glen race. Only one road course specialist was substituting for a driver in a fully sponsored, full-season NASCAR team—Patrick Carpentier for Michael Waltrip Racing. He is considered likely to lose his road course seat in the 2010 season when Martin Truex, Jr. takes over the team's full-time ride. Fellows drove in the race with the part-time Phoenix Racing, Said is now a part-owner of his team, and three other specialists were with lower-tier teams without full sponsorship