Can a road course ringer win in NASCAR?

One thing road course races in NASCAR are known for is "road course ringers", drivers who specialize in road racing and do not compete as much on oval tracks. The ringers this weekend at Watkins Glen include names like Boris Said, Alex Kennedy and Tomy Drissi. But do these drivers have a chance at beating the NASCAR regulars and go to victory lane?

Road course ringers have had success on both road courses and ovals in NASCAR. One of these ringers, Dan Gurney, won five Cup road races in the 1960s in Riverside, California. Another one, Canadian driver Ron Fellows, finished second in a couple of races at Watkins Glen, and also did well at Sonoma. Other ringers have gone on to full-time competition, like Scott Pruett, who drove the full 2000 schedule in the #32 car owned by Cal Wells. Pruett then went back to exclusively road racing. With Chip Ganassi, he finished second to Robby Gordon at Watkins Glen in Ganassi's #39 research and development car, and almost won a Busch Series road race in Mexico City in 2007 before getting spun by teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who stole the win from Pruett.

Probably a better-known case is Boris Said, who has competed in several Daytona 500s, which are held at an oval superspeedway. Said also won the pole for the summer 400-mile race at Daytona in 2006 and was leading with a few laps to go; he finished fourth. Said also won in the Nationwide Series at the Montreal road course in 2010. There have also been some NASCAR drivers whose specialty has been road courses, but have competed full-time in Cup, like Juan Pablo Montoya from Colombia, the 2007 Sonoma and 2010 Watkins Glen winner with Chip Ganassi, who also almost won a couple of oval races. And in the spotlight this weekend is 2011 and 2012 Watkins Glen winner Marcos Ambrose, driving for Richard Petty. The Australian was also a contender at the Glen last year, but Kyle Busch ultimately won the race.

Saturday's Nationwide race and Sunday's Cup race will likely both be won by full-time drivers who are more experienced on ovals than road courses. But it's still nice to see road course ringers get special attention as they compete in series they don't normally run at tracks they can handle well, and ringers have won a few races in NASCAR, so it's something to watch out for this weekend.