Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, June 20. Race: Toyota/Save Mart 350. Site: Infineon Raceway. Track: 1.99-mile road course. Start time: 3:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 110. Miles: 350 (kilometers). 2009 winner: Kasey Kahne. Television: TNT. Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN) /SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

The Sprint Cup Series heads to the 1.99-mile, 12-turn Infineon Raceway in Northern California for the first of two road course races this season. The other road course event is slated for August 9 at Watkins Glen, NY.

Denny Hamlin has been the hottest driver in NASCAR's top-tier series lately. Since NASCAR replaced the rear wing with the spoiler on the current Sprint Cup cars in late March, Hamlin has won five of the last 10 races.

Will Hamlin continue his winning momentum this weekend at Sonoma?

"People don't necessarily look at us as a road course team," Hamlin said. "We were competitive last year at Sonoma. We led quite a bit of the race and had pretty good fuel mileage."

Hamlin has yet to win a road course race in his Cup career, but he did score the victory in the 2006 Nationwide Series event at Mexico City. His best finish in four starts at Sonoma is fifth, which came last year.

Right now, Hamlin is on the same winning pace as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch was two years ago. Busch picked up his then series-leading fifth win of the 2008 season at Sonoma. He became the '08 road course king after taking the checkered flag at Watkins Glen later in the summer.

Busch won eight races during the Sprint Cup regular season that year, but faltered during the 10-race Chase for the championship.

After finishing a season-best second at Michigan, Kasey Kahne returns to Sonoma as the defending race winner.

Last year, Kahne gave Richard Petty his first win as a team owner in a decade, dating back to when John Andretti drove the legendary No.43 STP car to victory in the 1999 spring race at Martinsville. Kahne, who had never finished better than 23rd at Sonoma, held off Tony Stewart on several late-race restarts for the win.

"That was definitely a surprise last year," Kahne said. "We felt really strong the whole race, practice day and evening. Hopefully, we can unload similar this year, and be a little different with the Ford engine, how it runs, things like that. But I look forward to it. I always liked Sonoma. I liked it when I didn't run well there. I enjoyed learning that type of racing."

Kahne, currently 21st in points, is in the last year of his contract with Richard Petty Motorsports. His plans for next season remain uncertain before he replaces Mark Martin in the No.5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.

Stewart won at Watkins Glen last August. The two-time Cup champion has seven road course victories, including two wins at Sonoma (2001 and '05).

"I just like the road courses," Stewart said. "I've always liked Sonoma. It's really a driver's track. It's tough to make your car drive perfect all day. You can have a really good car, but it's going to slide around, and you're going to struggle for grip, and that's what makes it so fun. You have to do the work behind the steering wheel."

Jeff Gordon holds the record for most road course victories with nine. Gordon is a five-time winner at Sonoma, including three in a row there from 1998-2000. He also has posted a track-record five poles at Sonoma.

But Gordon has not performed as well at Sonoma and Watkins Glen as he did since NASCAR started running the current Sprint Cup car (Car of Tomorrow) on those tracks in 2007.

Four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson has yet to win on a NASCAR road course. Like Hamlin, Johnson recorded his best finish at Sonoma last year with a fourth-place run.

"Since the start of the No.48 team, we've tested more for road courses than any other specific race track," Johnson said. "I continue to run the Grand Am Series when I can to help. I feel like last year, we were close. We tend to qualify well, but fade in the race some, and last year was kind of the reverse of that. We qualified decent and had some troubles early in the race, but rebounded and came through and ended up fourth."

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Among the entrants are a couple of road course experts looking to make their first Sprint Cup starts.

Swedish driver Mattias Ekstrom will make his NASCAR debut in the No.83 Toyota for Red Bull Racing at Sonoma. Casey Mears has been driving the No.83 car in place of Brian Vickers, who continues to be treated for blood clots.

Former Formula One competitor and General Motors factory driver Jan Magnussen from Denmark will attempt to make his first Cup start, driving the No.09 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing. Magnussen will have to qualify on time since the No.09 team currently is outside of the top-35 in owner points.